Private Capital in Infrastructure PPPs with Sherena Hussain | S2 EP 3

03/11/24 • 46 min

In this episode of Navigating Major Programmes, Riccardo Cosentino sits down with Sherena Hussain, lawyer, global thought leader in infrastructure and advisor to new partnership and sustainable finance models, to tackle the complex question: is private capital successful in major programmes?

“The research and the industry and the research is beginning to align in the sense that we need to begin to do things differently. Now is the time to start to challenge the paradigm and do better.” – Sherena Hussain

Key Takeaways:

The role private capital in infrastructure major programmes
The overlaying correlation and causation of politics in private capital
The biases of private practitioners in determining the use of private capital
Delivery models, risk transfer and the tools for successful major programmes
Systems approach to complexity
The collective responsibility and impact of stakeholder management

Sherena Hussain’s Published Work

If you enjoyed this episode, make sure and give us a five star rating and leave us a review on iTunes, Podcast Addict, Podchaser or Castbox.

The conversation doesn’t stop here—connect and converse with our LinkedIn community:

Connect with Sherena Hussain on Linkedin
Follow Navigating Major Programmes on LinkedIn
Follow Riccardo Cosentino on LinkedIn
Read Riccardo’s latest at wwww.riccardocosentino.com

Transcript:

Riccardo Cosentino 0:05

You're listening to Navigating Major Programmes, a podcast that aims to elevate the conversations happening in the infrastructure industry and inspire you to have a more efficient approach within it. I'm your host, Riccardo Cosentino. I bring over 20 years of Major Programme Management experience. Most recently, I graduated from Oxford University Saïd Business School, which shook my belief when it comes to navigating major programmes. Now it's time to shake yours. Join me in each episode as I press the industry experts about the complexity of Major Programme Management, emerging digital trends and the critical leadership required to approach these multibillion-dollar projects. Let's see where the conversation takes us.

Riccardo Cosentino 0:53

Hello, everyone. Welcome to a new episode of Navigating Major Programmes. I'm here today with Sherena Hussain. How are you doing, Sherena?

Sherena Hussain 1:01

I'm doing well. Thanks. How are you?

Riccardo Cosentino 1:04

I'm very good. I'm very good. I'm so glad we're on this podcast together. Thank you for agreeing to join me. I've known you for a long time. But maybe for the guests that may not have seen you on CBC or seen your work on LinkedIn, can you introduce yourself briefly?

Sherena Hussain 1:21

Oh, wonderful. Well, thank you for that. Well, my name, as you mentioned, is Shereena. Hussein. I'm a lawyer as well as an academic. In addition to being in the infrastructure space for many years, it's so interesting that Riccardo, you and I, we go back, way back, to the Infrastructure Ontario days where I was a summer associate and I was able to work alongside some of your teams. And since then, my career has taken me in different directions. Practicing as a lawyer at McCarthy Tétrault moving into academia, including affiliations with the Schulich School of Business, and also dovetailing into a variety of different international work, including affiliations with the G7 and the G20, trying to pair private capital to sustainable infrastructure projects all around the world. And now more specifically, trying to connect different types of research to actual problems that we have in the infrastructure community, more specifically, how do we make those projects bankable but also sustainable economically as well as environmentally speaking?

Riccardo Cosentino 2:26

Okay, very interesting. So you, obviously, our path connected in the past and having this still do because I'm also ...

Key Takeaways:

The role private capital in infrastructure major programmes
The overlaying correlation and causation of politics in private capital
The biases of private practitioners in determining the use of private capital
Delivery models, risk transfer and the tools for successful major programmes
Systems approach to complexity
The collective responsibility and impact of stakeholder management

Sherena Hussain’s Published Work

If you enjoyed this episode, make sure and give us a five star rating and leave us a review on iTunes, Podcast Addict, Podchaser or Castbox.

The conversation doesn’t stop here—connect and converse with our LinkedIn community:

Connect with Sherena Hussain on Linkedin
Follow Navigating Major Programmes on LinkedIn
Follow Riccardo Cosentino on LinkedIn
Read Riccardo’s latest at wwww.riccardocosentino.com

Transcript:

Riccardo Cosentino 0:05

Riccardo Cosentino 0:53

Hello, everyone. Welcome to a new episode of Navigating Major Programmes. I'm here today with Sherena Hussain. How are you doing, Sherena?

Sherena Hussain 1:01

I'm doing well. Thanks. How are you?

Riccardo Cosentino 1:04

Sherena Hussain 1:21

Riccardo Cosentino 2:26

Okay, very interesting. So you, obviously, our path connected in the past and having this still do because I'm also ...

Previous Episode

The Human Pursuit of Infrastructure Delivery with Matti Siemiatycki | S2 EP 2

In this episode of Navigating Major Programmes, Riccardo Cosentino sits down with Matti Siemiatyck, Professor of Geography and Planning and Director of the Infrastructure Institute at the University of Toronto, to discuss the rise and fall of infrastructure in Ontario and answer the big question: Does the type of delivery model dictate the outcome of mega projects?

“We’ve lost track of what it means to be working collaboratively across organizations in these complex temporary organizations that are working at a huge scale with thousands of people and huge risk.” —Matti Siemiatycki, 20:42

The pair discuss the importance of data-driven debates for bettering delivery models and furthermore, the outcomes of major programmes.

Key Takeaways:

The good, the bad, and the ugly of PPP
The importance independent conversations about major programmes
The danger of simplifying delivery models for complex projects
Recognizing the delivery model’s role in the outcome
Infrastructure leadership training and where it is lacking, looking to the UK model
The importance of venues for open industry discussion, independent quality research and public data

"We need to try to create these spaces where we can have divergent views and we can actually discuss these points.”—Matti Siemiatycki, 33:01

Guest Bio:

Matti Siemiatycki is a Professor of Geography and Planning and Director of the Infrastructure Institute at the University of Toronto. His work focuses on delivering large-scale infrastructure projects, evidence-based infrastructure investment decisions, and the effective integration of infrastructure into the fabric of cities. His recent studies explore transit policy decisions, the value for money of public-private partnerships, the development of innovative mixed-use buildings as a form of place based infrastructure policy, and the diversity gap in the infrastructure industry workforce.

Matti Siemiatycki’s Published Work

If you enjoyed this episode, make sure and give us a five star rating and leave us a review on iTunes, Podcast Addict, Podchaser or Castbox

The conversation doesn’t stop here—connect and converse with our community via LinkedIn:

Follow Navigating Major Programmes on LinkedIn
Follow Riccardo Cosentino on LinkedIn
Connect with Matti Siemiatycki
Read Riccardo’s latest

Transcript:

Riccardo Cosentino 0:05

Riccardo Cosentino 0:53

Hello, everyone, welcome to another episode of season two of Navigating Major Programmes. I'm here with Matti Siemiatycki who is going to introduce himself in a minute. And today we're going to talk about his latest paper and have a general discussion about the PPP model in Ontario and in Canada more broadly and delivery models in general in our industry. How are you doing, Matti?

Matti Siemiatycki 1:16

I'm great, Riccardo, thanks for having me. It's nice being with you.

Matti Siemiatycki 1:19

Next Episode

The Iron Law of Megaprojects with Oomar Paurobally | Saïd Business School, University of Oxford Dissertation | S2 EP 4

In this episode of Navigating Major Programmes, Riccardo Cosentino sits down with Oomar Paurobally, a fellow Oxford alumnus and leader in hospitality megaprojects in South East Asia and Korea, to discuss his dissertation and his unique perspective on the Iron Triangle. The pair cover everything from stakeholder management and the universal complexity of major programmes to the interesting outcomes that can arise from a megaproject's royal flush.

“What we found is that the more you look at an aggregate level, when you're looking at an aggregated industry level, you find that the root causes tend to be the same. So, the same root causes we learned during our programme as areas affecting major infrastructure projects were the same that were impacting our industry, which were stakeholder management processes, product management skills in itself across portfolios; the root causes were similar. But what was really interesting insight was, so what? Now what? So we know, that's a core issue. But what does it really mean to us?” – Oomar Paurobally

After a degree in law, Oomar went to Dubai with a major project constructing a multi-billion dollar resort and waterpark. He has opened hotels, resorts and restaurants across Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Now, he has pivoted his career into real estate in the tech industry.

Key Takeaways:

Is the hospitality industry immune to the iron law of major programmes?
The similarity of Iron Triangle root causes in civil infrastructure major programmes and luxury commercial megaprojects: Infrastructure stakeholder management and leadership management
Delays as strategy in private sector of hospitality major programmes; the sharp contrast from civil major programmes
Oomar’s dissertation research methodology; the successes and failures of thematic analysis and quantitative survey research
The importance of pivoting to manage research bias
The royal flush in hospitality megaprojects and the interesting outcomes they can bring

If you enjoyed this episode, make sure and give us a five star rating and leave us a review on iTunes, Podcast Addict, Podchaser or Castbox.

The conversation doesn’t stop here—connect and converse with our LinkedIn community:

Follow Navigating Major Programmes on LinkedIn
Follow Riccardo Cosentino on LinkedIn
Follow Oomar Paurobally on LinkedIn
Read Riccardo’s latest at wwww.riccardocosentino.com

Transcript:

Riccardo Cosentino 00:05

Riccardo Cosentino 00:51

Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of Navigating Major Programmes. We're here today with Oomar Paurobally. How are you doing, Oomar?

Oomar Paurobally 01:02

I'm doing great Riccardo, it's great to be here.

Riccardo Cosentino 01:04

Thank you for joining me today. Really, really excited to have you on. I believe today you are calling from Singapore. Am I correct?

Oomar Paurobally 01:13

That's right. Beautiful island of Singapore.

Riccardo Cosentino 01:15

There you go. And I'm in Toronto so I think we are covering most of the time zone around the globe today. We're here today to talk about, I mean, you attended the Master in Major Program Management with me, we were in the same cohort. And today I invited you to the podcast to talk about your research, your dissertation. But maybe before we do that, that you might introduce yourself a little bit. Tell us a little bit about your background and what did you do before Oxford, what are you doing now, and things like that.

Oomar Paurobally 01:46

Thank you so much, Riccardo. Well, pleasure to be on the podcast and invest. Here I'm standing on shou...