theceomagazine.com | 79“The first thing I did at OCP was to conduct
an independent business review to identify untapped
potential. This is where I saw the first real evidence
of the strength of our human capital, both in terms
of expertise and their commitment to the company’s
mission. From very early on, I focused on serving
that wealth of human capital, and it has more than
paid off,” says Mostafa.
OCP has reported double-digit, year-on-year
growth in revenues, retaining its industry-leading
EBITDA margin for the first nine months of 2017
despite challenging market conditions. “We have
turned OCP into a prosperous corporation. This
has allowed us to not only modernise internal
management systems, but also raise funds more
effectively and competitively serve global markets not
only with raw material but with intermediate and
finished products,” says Mostafa.
These achievements reflect the benefits of OCP’s
investment program – the largest in the fertiliser
industry. It was established in 2008 with the objective
of doubling its mining capacity and tripling its
fertiliser capacity. “Our investment program has
helped us become a leading phosphate fertiliser
producer in the world. By making a basic change to
our business model and philosophy, we now have
closer dealings with the end clients, the farmers,”
explains Mostafa.
This increased industrial and commercial
flexibility has led to higher sales volumes across
Europe, North America, Latin America and Africa.
Africa accounts for around 30 per cent of OCP’s
total fertiliser exports. “Our focus on Africa started
around four or five years ago in recognition of the
enormous potential of African agriculture. This came
not at the expense of our presence in other legacy
markets, but as a new opportunity to serve African
farmers with innovative products and services,” says
Mostafa thoughtfully.
From a management point of view, Mostafa says
his biggest challenge has been trying to instil
a corporate culture as part of OCP’s new business
model. “I’ve been successful in freeing up the existing
energies within the company and reducing the layers
of bureaucracy and hierarchical culture. I discovered
that the corporate culture was always there, it just lay
below the surface. Over the past 12 years, our
transformation has seen the average age at OCP drop
from 45 to 35 years,” he adds.
Mostafa explains that the fertiliser industry is
changing significantly as it gets closer to the farmer
and is becoming more mindful of local conditions.
“The industry is shifting from a commodity-focused
approach in producing standard fertiliser formulas, to
a business approach in producing customisable
formulas based on what the farmers, the soil and the
plants need on a real-time basis,” he says. “Our
industry has embraced that shift, moving away from
a push philosophy to a pull philosophy.”WORKING TOGETHER
OCP has more than 20 subsidiaries and joint ventures
across the areas of mining and processing, engineering
and consulting, international markets and trading,
and ecosystem development. Mostafa sees these
partnerships as an important building block in
constructing an ecosystem around OCP’s operations
to enhance its position.
“At the same time, we want to ensure our
partners become viable businesses on their own,
able to tap into growth opportunities not only in
Morocco, but throughout Africa,” he says.
To assist in its expansion plans, OCP launched
JESA, an engineering joint venture with the
US-based Jacobs Engineering Group in 2010. »“ A miner turned to me saying, ‘If you
understand that our true wealth lies
in our human capital, then you will
succeed’... That was on my very first
day and it’s still the most important
lesson I’ve ever learned.”
Interview | INSPIRE