I talk about Personal Growth, Management, Infrastructure and More | 👇JOIN +2k readers 👇
I scored you many goals
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First week of “relax” and meetings to celebrate my well-deserved holidays. Having been for so long on the infrastructure world, logically I’ve been catching up and meeting people from banks, private equity firms and infrastructure investors, in general. In a coffee with investors talking about how I could help them in the future, I was asked something like… why would I be a good advisor for them. I was thinking that we were practising the art of conversation and coffee tasting and this caught me totally out of guard. “Because I scored you many goals” – without thinking. Not the best answer, I’m afraid, but they loved it, and we could continue our coffee. And you know that I love coffee… Well… I correct. You know that I love good coffee… And why did they like my answer? Well… This is a constant in business. If you wonder, why the FBI uses hackers to protect their IT system or help them to “spy” on others’ computers… well… I’m sure you can guess. The best security guys can perfectly be former robbers. So, I guess that someone wanting to buy infrastructure, or any other thing would love to have a seller from the other site of the table advising them. I know where all the tricks and flaws could be in an asset. I’ve delivered many. It’s like buying a house… you would love to have a former real estate agent with you. Don’t you? If so, and you want to learn a few tricks about infrastructure, you need to take a look to this. ​The 15 Top Lessons of a PPP Project Nightmare - The audiobook​ PD 1: If you liked this email, don't keep it in secret and forward it to a friend. They will thank you enormously one day. PD 2: If somebody has sent you this email and you want to receive emails like this yourself, visit vicentevalencia.com PD 3: If you want unsubscribe, click the link below. |
Vicente Valencia
I talk about Personal Growth, Management, Infrastructure and More | 👇JOIN +2k readers 👇
“I’m a PPP freak.” That’s what I told a client last week. Then I killed the deal in 30 minutes. “But this is not a PPP project.” No model. No workshops. No 200-page reports. Just experience. Because after you’ve seen enough projects, the disasters, the political theatre, the “too good to be true” bids… you start seeing patterns. Fast. You don’t need months. You need clarity. 30 minutes is enough to know: if a project is bankable… or dead on arrival if the contract creates value… or prints...
2012 Kenya. Elections coming. Security concerns rising. Investors… nervous. And still… The Lake Turkana Wind Power Project pushed toward financial close. 310 MW. One of the largest wind farms in Africa. Remote. Very remote. No proper roads. Weak grid. Logistics… borderline insane. Ideas such as domesticate zebras on the table… This wasn’t a project. This was a bet. And the closing? Just what I love… Pure tension. Lenders asking for more guarantees. Sponsors juggling political risk. Government...
That’s how many countries approach infrastructure. Big pipeline. Big announcements. Zero learning. Norway did the opposite. Smart those guys. In the early 2000s, they tested PPPs with just three projects: E39 Klett–Bårdshaug (opened 2005) E39 Lyngdal–Flekkefjord (opened 2006) E18 Grimstad–Kristiansand (opened 2009) That’s it. Three shots. Not fifteen. Not a political fireworks show. A controlled experiment. Same model. Same timeframe. Comparable results. And guess what? They delivered. On...