From March 5 to 15, 2026, the ICEE Global Leadership Development Base carried out a series of global leadership workshops and research activities for expatriate managers across multiple locations in West Africa. The program was designed and organized under the leadership of Dr. Shen Ye, Assistant to Secretary General of ICEE and Secretary General of the Global Partnership Committee of ICEE. The expert team included Professor He Ping, Associate Dean of the School of Economics and Management at Tsinghua University, Professor Wei Jie, and Professor Chen Shengmin. Participants also included Shi Zhongqiang, Senior Manager of the Human Resources Department of China Harbour Engineering Company Ltd., representatives from the China Harbour West Africa Regional Management Center, as well as a total of 31 engineering project managers from countries including Cote d'Ivoire, Senegal, Ghana, Guinea, and Benin.

Shen Ye presided over the global leadership workshops and assessments

Workshop discussions and exchanges

The program first launched a three-day global leadership workshop in Abidjan, the capital of Cote d'Ivoire, and conducted global leadership assessments for expatriate managers. The project team carried out on-site research at key engineering projects in the West Africa region, including the Abidjan Port Project in Cote d'Ivoire, as well as another major regional port project located in Ndayane Village, Dakar, Senegal—one of the least developed regions in the world. During their time in Africa, the team also investigated the development of engineering and technical talent within China Harbour Engineering Company’s projects in West Africa. They highly commended the program’s sustainable engineering capacity-building approach, which is based on the principles of “Rooted in Engineering, Driven by Engineering, Enhancing Engineering, and Returning to Engineering.”.

This global leadership workshop was conducted on the basis of successful programs previously carried out in the Americas region in 2023 and the Middle East region in 2025. It was also aligned with China Harbour Engineering Company’s 15th Five-Year Development Plan and the concept of sustainable engineering leadership. The program included components such as individual assessments, knowledge expansion, action planning, and in-depth interviews.

Program team field research

Bai Yinzhan, Head of the ICEE Global Leadership Development Base and Chairman of China Harbour Engineering Company Ltd., stated that the global leadership program aims to build an international talent development system. Through region specific research, the program has identified key leadership characteristics of the company’s expatriate managers. He noted that the Tsinghua University expert team traveled a great distance to West Africa to carry out the program on site, which not only supports the company’s contribution to Africa’s development but also represents a practical implementation of the United Nations’ Africa development priority initiatives.

The ICEE Global Leadership Development Base was jointly initiated by ICEE and China Harbour Engineering Company Ltd., and was officially established in December 2021. The Base aims to promote engineering education and capacity building under the framework of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Leveraging China Harbour’s major global engineering projects, it seeks to drive cross-regional engineering capacity development and foster a community of engineering education characterized by international engineering practice and a focus on global leadership development.