By Justin Sayles,
PBN Copy Editor
By 2003, Blake Henderson had grown his then-16-year-old company, Northeast Engineering & Consultants Inc., to a respectable-sized firm doing business primarily in New England.
However, that growth was “small, methodical and agonizing,” he said.
Looking to expand the business, Henderson focused his attention on the Middle East, an emerging market that he felt needed the expertise that Northeast Engineering could provide.
Turns out he was right.
Middletown-based Northeast Engineers finds itself second on Providence Business News’ list of Fastest Growing Private Companies, boasting 628-percent revenue growth between 2004 and 2006, from $7.28 million to $53 million. And Henderson – who founded the company by himself out of his garage in 1987 – is quick to credit the Middle East expansion.
While virtually all decisions to transition a company’s focus can be viewed as a risk, Henderson said that he didn’t think the move was that much of a gamble. In New England, the market is filled with consulting and engineering firms, all of which tend to compete for the same contracts time after time. The Middle East, by contrast, is in need of vast infrastructure projects, many of which have been undertaken by American firms.
“We are an exporter of engineering and construction management services to markets that are looking for the experience levels and the expertise that we have,” Henderson said. “It’s in abundant supply in New England, but it’s in very short supply in the emerging markets.”
The idea of American firms conducting business in the region was already firmly in place when Northeast Engineering planted its feet in the region. Henderson has taken business classes at Harvard University, where he said he was taught that “if you’re not in the emerging markets, you’re destined to fail.”
Plus, some larger companies already had been in the region, including Parsons International and Turner Construction – companies with thousands of employees, versus Northeast Engineering’s 92. By far, Henderson said, his firm has been the smallest American company to work successfully in the region.
But it’s been less of a David-and-Goliath competition and more of a big brother-little brother relationship.
“Because there are so few Americans over there, they do tend to look out for each other,” Henderson said, adding that Northeast Engineering’s work in the region has gained it more credibility from companies that “wouldn’t have even opened the door for us” previously.
The company has been able to land major projects in the region, including airports and substations in Iraq and an amusement park in Afghanistan. The company is presently bidding on work in Djibouti, Africa, to install key infrastructure in a naval base.
Northeast Engineering already has three offices in the United States – in Middletown, West Bridgewater, Mass., and Ventura, Calif. – and now it’s building an office in Jebel Ali, just outside of Dubai. And it’s considering opening several other offices in the Middle East.
On any given day, Henderson said, the company could have 6,000 people working for it not directly on its payroll. Many of those are subcontractors from the region where the business is being conducted, and a majority of those have become accustomed to conducting business in a “paperless society” that relies on handshakes and promises.
Northeast Engineering has been able to professionalize the practices of many of those companies, adding discipline and teaching the value of documentation to Middle Eastern firms, he said.
The expertise and knowledge gained in the region also has had a tremendous impact on the company, Henderson said. Aside from being able to hire top talent previously out of the company’s reach, Northeast Engineering has become a firm that’s accustomed to working internationally. Before the growth, many employees would have scoffed at the idea of traveling to the Middle East on a business trip. Now, such trips are routine.
“The experience has had a real domino effect on the entire company, its potential and the future,” Henderson said.
