Khatib & Alami (K&A) is an International Multidisciplinary Consultancy comprising of Architects, Engineers, Planners, Project Managers, Technologists, and other specialists. We employ over 7000 people across 30+ locations in the Middle East, GCC Region, North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Central and Southeast Asia. Its work covers a broad spectrum of sectors and disciplines, including Architecture & Urban Planning, Transportation & Urban Mobility, Water & Environment, Energy, Project Management services, and Digital services. The company offers deep expertise, combined with a broad understanding of delivering complex major projects within agreed time frames and budgets.
A Transformative Leader
Najib Khatib, the CEO, started his professional career with K&A in 1996 in Lebanon after returning from the US where he had spent 10 years at university completing his studies starting as a freshman and finally earning a Ph. D in Civil & Environmental Engineering in 1995. He spent the initial few years performing multiple design projects within his specialty which is transport planning and traffic engineering using Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Later, he was transferred to the United Arab Emirates and assigned to supervision of construction for several years on a wide variety of projects.
Najib was then asked to assist in promoting K&A’s services in Saudi Arabia, and for the next 17 years, he continued to work on preparing and conducting presentations to potential clients, working on proposals, leading design teams, establishing various legal forms or cooperation with American and European firms to participate in very large projects in several countries. In 2011, the Board of Directors (BOD) which he had joined several years earlier voted him as the CEO of K&A, primarily because of the rapid and successful expansion the company achieved while providing the clients with quality work. In 2016, the BOD voted him as the Chairman of the Board of K&A in addition to maintaining his CEO position. In 2018 Najib established the Executive Office in Dubai which enabled him to transfer and hire the most qualified seniors to work with him on continuing to expand and advance the services, technologies, and territories where the firm operates.
“I remain heavily involved to the extent feasible with the operations side of the firm to ensure that it remains among the top International Multidisciplinary Consultancies, as well as work on transferring my experience to the upcoming generations that have reached a certain level of seniority,” says Najib.
A Pioneering Vision
K&A upholds its uniqueness in the market by placing creativity and imagination at the core of its approach. It prioritizes delivering comprehensive solutions that enhance user experiences. Our approach includes value engineering, optimization, and efficient project execution. Sustainability is at the core, considering economic, social, and environmental impacts. We align with clients’ visions, meeting their needs and expectations. Continuous learning and improvement drive us to achieve ambitious goals.”
Najib’s vision for K&A is to remain an early adopter of new technologies that add value to their clients. The vision is flexible, and evolving as the team prioritizes ideas that consistently enhance K&A’s services. He believes that leaders must embrace risk when championing novel concepts, avoiding ego-driven resistance to proven ideas. “Attention to detail and active engagement at all levels are essential for realizing any worthwhile vision. Narcissistic, ego-driven approaches hinder progress and create barriers,” feels Najib.
As the CEO, Najib continuously attempts to figure out the best and fastest way to catch up with the obligations he has set for himself. He believes that CEOs should thrive and be grateful for the continuous number of new challenges and unfamiliar tasks they continuously face. They should also acknowledge others’ contributions and avoid pretending to have all the solutions. These opportunities help bring up a fresh perspective, build trust, and also help assess individuals’ readiness for higher responsibilities. “As the CEO, it is my duty to facilitate the progress of individuals who work hard on improving their abilities and capabilities,” he says.
Guided by Innovation
In a multidisciplinary consultancy, clients hire you and appreciate the service you provide because they believe that you consistently provide their target objectives with the most innovative solutions that match their set of beliefs and importance.
Najib believes that currently, innovation focuses on primarily two subjects. The first is the move towards digital economies which is transforming the built environment sector. Smart solutions have rapidly evolved from simple ad hoc projects to truly smart cities, with digital technologies trustfully embedded into the infrastructure and daily experiences of city life. K&A’s teams have been dedicated to developing innovative solutions tailored to address the specific challenge each community faces. They are driven by the larger purpose of improving the lives of people and making a positive impact on communities. These are transformative technologies that are reshaping how we approach various aspects of design, planning, and construction processes. Its consistent commitment to technology innovation and its unwavering focus on providing high-quality services is aimed at exceeding the client’s expectations and maintaining its position as a leader in the industry.
The other current focus of innovation points out Najib, is to help create a sustainable future. Sustainability is at the heart of K&A’s business philosophy. It extends beyond the confines of codes, standards, and best practices toward the shift required to build a better future for humanity. The company adopts comprehensive sustainability in all its projects which utilizes innovative strategies in sustainable engineering design, materials, energy management, and independent commissioning solutions. Sustainable design not only helps support the environment and improve wellness but also makes long-term business sense by significantly reducing operational costs by making projects easier to market.
“Our specialist teams develop strategies and programs that meet international certifications such as LEED which embrace the latest tools, research, material, and smart technologies to further enhance energy efficiency and waste management, improve housing and healthcare, optimize traffic flow and safety, detect air quality and improve water and sanitation systems. The combination of both, technology and sustainability are at the core of our practical contribution to innovation, without which, companies in this industry will be unable to sustain their business over the medium to long term,” shares Najib.
Embracing the Trends
Several trends are emerging which will most likely impact the direction that the A/E/P industry may look like within the next 5 years. The most obvious is the exponential acceleration of technology and its embeddedness in the ever-increasing sub-specialties that make up the A/E/P industry. With the world population increasing, more focus and budget will likely go to entertainment and culture facilities to provide leisure venues. Technological advancements in robotics and AI will create more free time, but it’s important to address potential socio-economic difficulties for those displaced by these advances. Many nations have already increased their budgets to take advantage of this trend, and others are likely to follow suit in the coming years.
Another trend is modular construction using pre-engineered structures and ready-to-install materials which is directly influencing the speed of construction with an ever-increasing level of quality and is expected to continue increasing its share of the built environment, especially as technology continues to improve. “Man-made materials that replace natural materials continue to become faster, cheaper, and cleaner to produce will also improve sustainability and allow the construction of facilities to continue being more economical and less timely to produce. This trend is highly likely to continue and impact the A/E/P and construction industries,” predicts Najib.
All such examples share know-how as the main common ingredient amongst them, and as A/E/P consultancies’ main product is knowledge and know-how, owners of A/E/P consultancies need to expand their levels of know-how application into adjacent sectors to the current basic A/E/P know-how, and some should succeed in their expansion of know-how and its application, and our company is likely to be one such successful A/E/P firm as it is taking the necessary steps in certain aspects of the adjacent know-how.
Sustainable Development Goals
In line with the global target of achieving Sustainable Development Goals laid down by the United Nations by the year 2030, sustainability at K&A has been formalized and is led by a sustainability committee from various disciplines who work both independently and collectively. They pursue an agenda to allow K&A to remain at the forefront of achieving world sustainability to the maximum extent possible before 2030. This committee meets and presents its continuous achievement through reporting and holding dedicated full-day presentations, discussions, advancements, budgets, resources, etc. by meeting twice a year with the BOD of K&A to ensure they have a viable corporate sustainability strategy that can positively, consistently and substantially contribute to all defined sustainability goals to the extent feasible. At K&A, this committee is made up of five groups, and each group is made up of four specialists that rotate every one to three years to both enable the company to address the multitude of goals while simultaneously increasing its number of staff who both learn and contribute to improving world sustainability over time.
While K&A’s sustainability goals may seem at first glance to be partly different from the UN “17 Sustainable Development Goals” (SDG) by 2030, they are not different from the UN SDG, however, the approach they use may be different as a private sector company. The goals that are the most active currently begin with Climate Change Adaptation, Green Building Design and Construction Consultancy, Energy Management, GHG/CO2 Inventory and Management, Sustainability Supply Chain Management, Sustainability Life Cycle and Costing Analysis, Sustainability Digital Interfacing, Sustainability Water Management, Sustainability Land Use Optimization Management, Sustainable Quality Education Facilities, Sustainable Quality Healthcare facilities, Sustainable availability of Public Transportation facilities, Sustainable Recycling and Hazardous Waste Management, Sustainable Planning, Design and Supervision of Construction of Public and Private facilities within the Built Environment that maximize the ability of mentally or physically handicapped people to access such facilities with minimum efforts, support funding for projects that provide basic infrastructure which remains scarce in a large number of developing nations, allocate yearly budgets for Corporate and Social Responsibility Efforts, Sustainability Capacity Building for K&A staff through increasing their Qualifications, Credential and Certifications such as LEEDS, GSAS (Service Provider License – Design & Build A/E, CEM, CMVP, ASHRAE, BCxP (Building Community Certified, CPMP, PQP (Pearl Qualified Professional) Estidama, PEER Professional, GRI (Empowering Sustainable Decisions) Certified Sustainability Practitioners (GRI-G4) and other such qualifications and certifications.
What Lies Ahead
The next big goals for Najib are to continue expanding his level of know-how and enable the company to reach the necessary economies of scale to remain a leading consultancy hopefully for several generations to come.
“Everything we do must have a purpose in the future besides enabling the company to maintain its financial freedom. Such goals require a high level of experience and an up-to-date knowledge of all things related to this industry. Success is possible for those willing to take the risks associated with implementing more trends and be willing to put in the correct structure and efforts to overcome the many challenges that are likely to accompany reaching and materializing such big goals,” concludes Najib.
The following sections need to be designed:
Wisdom Nuggets:
On Finding Work-Life Balance:
I do not believe that any CEO has figured out this persistent issue. As CEOs get promoted, their expectations increase. They need to decide how much stress and pressure they are willing to handle. Being in senior management of a company is in itself a time and energy-consuming job, and being an active CEO with ambitions, one must realize that there will be a price to pay. Balancing work and personal life is challenging, but it’s essential to avoid wasted time and make time for family, health, and hobbies, without which any person will end up paying a heavy price.
For Aspiring Entrepreneurs:
I believe that any aspiring entrepreneur surely has a set of skills that the market appreciates and is willing to pay for. However, at the same time, most aspiring entrepreneurs are relatively young and lack the full set of skills to enable them to get a company off the ground and still be in business after 3 or 4 years. My advice is for them to be honest with themselves and develop the ability to identify their strengths as well as their weaknesses. Make use of every available resource to improve weaker skills and gain experience in those areas. Patience is key to honing skills and minimizing any remaining gaps.
Quote: “Let your work focus on ensuring that your company remains relevant in the marketplace for another 10 years.”
Quote: “We strive to deliver fully-fledged solutions to embrace and enhance the user’s experience.”
Quote: “We Value engineer and optimize with a focus on creating outstanding projects as efficiently as possible.”