Looking Back
As we reflect on the past 12 months, we are super grateful for an amazing 2024. The Ethnic Technologies theme of 2024 has been QUALITY. Off the back of a 2023 filled with growth, we took a view in 2024 that ‘quality’ would be our focus for the year. In order to achieve this initiative, we embarked on some interesting and exciting training initiatives with our team, including softer skills such as Teams Meeting Etiquette training. Our drawing office increased its skill set in the production of 2D and 3D drawing information, and we spent some time refining our report templates and documents in order to streamline the information, typically issued on our projects as part of our deliverables.
Twelve months have passed and our already well oiled machine, is even more fluid and well presented than before. Over the course of the year, we were fortunate to be appointed on 18 new exceptional projects across 6 countries, growing our global portfolio of sophisticated luxury projects. With our expansion into new regions during 2023, our focus for 2024 was to solidify our presence in the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Portugal, Luxembourg and South Africa.
Our CEO was invited to attend the 2024 EMEA Stakeholder Conference in Dubai, a closed conference for specialist stakeholders to the Hospitality Industry, a proud moment for our company to have received this invitation.
Regional Stories
Africa:
South Africa has bolted out of a difficult 2023 into a very active busy 2024 – with high end projects in Cape Town starting up and some being handed over during the year, our Cape Town team has had their hands full delivering 5 star hotels and mixed use buildings in the region. Across Africa, we have continued to grow our strong presence in the hospitality technology and smart city sector, with active projects across 13 African countries still in progress.
UK and Europe:
As technology continues to redefine guest experiences and operational efficiencies, the UK and Europe regions have seen many iconic hotel properties undergo important technology and guest room refurbishment projects.
Middle East:
With such an array of technology advanced innovations and initiatives behind them, the evolution of smart buildings and cities is accelerating to new heights in the Middle East, especially in Saudi Arabia, where Ethnic has been pretty active during the 2024 year with new projects under construction, as well as with initiatives with some new upcoming hospitality stakeholders that are set to redefine what a hotel will look and feel like in the future. This region has been an exciting mix of new ideas and visionary thinking during 2024, and we’re super grateful to have been part of a lot of that thinking. We are excited and proud to have now been appointed on 11 key projects in the region and continue to lead innovation in the sector.
Our People
As always, the core of our business is our people. In 2024, we witnessed remarkable achievements driven by the dedication and innovation of our exceptional team. We asked them for a few of their highlights for the 2024 year, and this is what they said:
Appointment on some mega factory projects in Africa – a new vertical for Ethnic Technologies.
Appointment to a niche luxury hospital in West Africa.
The addition of new members to the team in the Cape Town Support office.
Being part of the Tridium Niagara roadshow as Guest speaker.
The relocation of two of our Cape Town senior Consultants to our London office, to assist with the projects in the European region.
Being exclusively invited to attend the 2024 EMEA Stakeholder Conference in Dubai.
The Ethnic Brand building initiatives – our new website to be launched in 2025, our social media platforms following has increased exponentially.
Etiquette training for online and face to face meeting attendance.
Implementing innovative designs and cutting-edge technologies.
Welcoming new team members and the increasing size of the Design and Drawing Department in Cape Town, and also our consulting team in Cape Town.
Conclusion
It has been a busy and remarkable year for us at Ethnic Technologies. As we reflect on the year, we take stock of the collective efforts of our team that have propelled the business to new heights, across new regions and have set the stage for continued success in the coming years. We are also exceptionally grateful to be able to work with a number of fantastic clients and incredible professional teams, enabling us to continue to design and work on some of the most iconic buildings, technically advanced smart cities and prestigious hospitality projects across the world. We are excited for 2025 which should boast the closing out of some of our super interesting projects that we spent our time on during 2024 and also the start of some new and exciting projects that spent a fair amount of time in feasibility testing during 2024.
