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Maano Capital Pty Ltd, 2013/181382/07 is an authorized financial services provider (FSP 55112) in terms of section 8 of the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Act 37 of 2002. Maano Capital is authorized to provide advice and intermediary services in the following categories: money market instruments, derivative instruments, long and short term deposits, structured deposits, participatory interests in CIS, shares, bonds, debentures and securitized debt and and forex investments. Maano Capital is a registered credit provider NCRCP22459.

The Best Engineering Firms Today Are No Longer Defined By Engineering Expertise

  • Writer: Maano Capital
    Maano Capital
  • Apr 20
  • 2 min read

Updated: Apr 21

For a long time, engineering firms have been judged mainly on their technical depth: design capability, project management discipline, procurement strength and construction execution. This expertise remains critical for the implementation of infrastructure projects, however in today’s world, they are no longer sufficient for real success. The real differentiator has increasingly become whether an EPC can help originate, structure or unlock the financing needed for a project to break ground.


Across all major infrastructure projects - whether in energy, transport, water or other industries the bottleneck is no longer a shortage of specialist engineering capacity. It is a lack of bankable preparation, credible funding pathways and financially viable transaction structures. Recent engineering news coverage reflects this clearly: South Africa’s grid expansion and water & transport transformation's biggest requirement is funding solutions. Infrastructure South Africa has placed growing emphasis on project preparation, and the crowding in of private sector funding in major public infrastructure projects recognising that finance is what is slowing implementation. The reality is that projects move faster when technical execution is matched by funding readiness


This means that the competitive landscape for EPCs is completely different today. The firms that stand out are not only those with the best engineers who can design innovative structures and build them efficiently; it is increasingly the ones that can help clients move from concept to financial close. In practice, this means understanding the funding landscape, investor requirements, how to shape projects into bankable opportunities and how to align technical scopes to funder expectations. In a capital-constrained environment, project finance origination has become an essential commercial capability, it is no longer an optional nice to have.


To sum up, the top EPCs today are not just engineering partners. They are capital-enabling partners. The market is rewarding firms that can connect technical credibility with financial closure — because in the current environment, the engineering firm that can help source the project finance is going to be the one that wins the design & build work.



Maano Capital is an authourised FSP 55112. We are a finance partner for EPCs, - we enable infrastructure project implementation through the sourcing and structuring of blended finance.

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