BEPEC, as one of South Africa’s 18 export councils, was founded in 2001 as the International Business Development Sector (IBDS). This was in response to the globalisation of South Africa’s consulting engineering sector. Founding organizations included the Consulting Engineers South Africa (CESA), the South African Institute of Architects (SAIA) and the Association of South African Quantity Surveyors (ASAQS). The Association of Construction Project Managers (ACPM)and Institute for Landscape Architects in South Africa (ILASA) have also joined us. The IBDS changed its name in 2008.

Our mission
Our mission is to assist South African built environment professionals and contractors export their skills, services and expertise. In line with this, we provide an enabling platform for members and government stakeholders to engage on key issues. These include export promotion policy development, local and regional export trends, and built environment export opportunities in Africa.

Additionally, a second priority is to transform South Africa’s export sector. We do this by assisting smaller enterprises (SMEs) and black-owned businesses become export ready. This is in line with the mandate of our partner, the Department of Trade and Industry (dti). Finally, besides growing the volume and value of South African exports, we want to grow the community of South African exporters, with large and small companies.

South Africa Inc
Our approach is rooted in our drive to unite our country’s construction and built environment stakeholders under the overarching South Africa Inc banner. This is because bidding for projects as consortia, as opposed to bidding as individual companies, enhances one’s competitiveness and success rates. This particularly applies to when one is tendering for very large infrastructure developments. The Built Environment Professions Export Council of South Africa is proud to be at the forefront of this strategy to ensure South Africa exports more than goods and products.