Construction & Projects Management · West & Central Africa

Heavy infrastructure, delivered in the hardest places to build.

I'm Derrick Nkwain — a construction & projects manager with 20+ years running large-scale builds across West and Central Africa: mining camps, water and power plants, telecom networks and data centres. I help contractors, developers and owners plan, schedule, cost and deliver projects that actually finish on time.

Derrick Nkwain leading the client handover of a completed camp building on the Simandou project, Guinea
Client handover · Completed camp building · Simandou, Guinea
20+
Years on site
$65M+
Project value delivered
8
Countries worked
EN / FR
Fully bilingual
What I do

Services you can hire me for

Hands-on site leadership when you need someone on the ground — and remote technical work delivered to clients anywhere in the world. Each of these is something I do every week.

01

Project & site management

Planning, execution, supervision and handover of large infrastructure programmes — from camps and treatment plants to power and telecom builds.

02

Planning & scheduling

Detailed construction programmes built in Primavera P6 and MS Project — baselines, critical-path analysis, progress tracking and recovery schedules.

03

Cost estimation & BoQ

Bills of quantities, cost plans and budget control for civil, mechanical and electrical works, with realistic regional pricing.

04

Tender & bid documents

Preparation and review of tender packages, method statements and bid submissions that meet international standards.

05

HSE & environmental compliance

Health, safety and environmental monitoring plans and protocols for construction sites in demanding and crisis-affected settings.

06

Owner's representation & audits

Acting as the client's eyes on a project — structural audits, quality assurance, progress reporting and subcontractor oversight.

Sectors

Where I've built

Two decades across the sectors that hold a country together — often in remote, high-pressure environments where there's no margin for a project to fail.

Mining camps & site infrastructure Water & sewer treatment plants Thermal & solar power Rural electrification & micro-grids Telecom networks & towers Data centres Electrical switchboards & transmission Airport & civil works Fire-fighting & piping systems
Selected projects

Proof in the field

A sample of the work behind the numbers — real builds, real handovers, across the region.

01

Simandou mining project — camp & utilities

1,400-person camp, 600 m³ water treatment plant, 250 m³/day sewer plant & 8,000A switchboards
Guinea
02

Two 6 MW thermal power plants

Technical consultancy, planning & quality assurance — Nguti & Mamfe
Cameroon
03

Data centre construction

Delivery and quality control across two sites — Kumba & Yaoundé
Cameroon
04

Solar farms & rural electrification micro-grids

Renewable installations with Soventix & Huawei
Nigeria / Cameroon
05

Telecom infrastructure rollout

Turnkey networks & towers — MTN, Orange & Africell
Cameroon / Sierra Leone
06

Malabo International Airport extension

Project execution & coordination
Equatorial Guinea
Track record

Where I've worked

Construction Manager
IBS Group — Simandou Project, Guinea
2023 — Present
Project Manager, Civil & Infrastructure
CAMUSAT, Sierra Leone
2021 — 2023
Construction Consultant
JN Company, Cameroon
2021
Regional Projects Control Manager
Likusasa Engineering & Contracting
2017 — 2021
Project Manager, Civil & Infrastructure
Likusasa, Cameroon
2014 — 2017
Project Superintendent
Likusasa, Cameroon
2008 — 2014
About

An engineer who finishes things

I've spent more than twenty years building infrastructure in some of the most challenging environments in West and Central Africa — places where supply chains are thin, conditions are hard, and a project either gets delivered or it doesn't.

My work runs from leading a 1,400-person mining camp build in Guinea, to commissioning power plants in Cameroon, to rolling out telecom networks across Sierra Leone. I lead multicultural teams, coordinate with clients, subcontractors and government, and hold the line on quality, safety, budget and schedule.

I'm fully bilingual in English and French, which lets me work seamlessly across the whole region — and I bring that same rigour to remote work for clients anywhere in the world.

EN — Fluent FR — Fluent
Derrick Nkwain on site at a completed camp facility, Simandou project, Guinea
On site · Completed camp facility, Simandou · Guinea
Credentials
MSc, Business Management
Atlantic International University, USA · 2015
BTech, Production & Mechanical Engineering
University of Douala, Cameroon · 2003
University Diploma, Telecommunications
Penn Foster, USA · 2010
IBM — Introduction to Project Management
2024
Toolset
AutoCAD · Primavera P6 · MS Project · MS Office
Contact

Let's talk about your project

Whether you need someone on site, a project schedule built, a bill of quantities priced, or a second pair of expert eyes — reach out. WhatsApp is the fastest way to get me.