Chairman and Chief Executive Officer in Washington, DC

PE, CEng., FIStructE, FZwelE, MASCE Chairman and CEO

Engr. Philip is the Chairman and Chief Executive officer of IIB DEVELOPMENT GROUP. Phil has overall responsibility for the company’s engineering, consulting, construction and related infrastructure businesses.

He began his engineering career as a Materials Technician with the Ministry of Roads and Road Traffic back in 1973. Among the projects he worked on was the extension of the main runway and new taxiway construction at Balawayo Airport in 1973-74 before he left to pursue further studies overseas.

He obtained his first degree in Civil Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur in 1979. He then spent a short stint on road construction projects in the jungles of South America before proceeding to pursue his Master’s degree in Structural Engineer at the Ohio State University which he completed in 1981.

On returning to Zimbabwe, Engr. Bamu joined BKS & Partners as a civil/structural design engineer from January 1982. He was involved in a number of infrastructure projects around the country such as Checheche and Rutenga Growth Points as well as design of numerous bridges around the country. Some of the buildings he designed in the early part of his career include the Morris Depot Lecture complex and the Staff College and officers Mess within the KG6 Army Complex.

In 1986, BKS & Partners changed owners to become Young Bamu Jennings, and Engr. Bamu took over as the partner-in-charge of structural engineering. In 1996, he took over as Managing Director and continued to head the structural engineering division. Among the prominent projects he designed during this time were the Bulawayo Dairy, Bestle Head office Harare, Zimre Flats in Eastlea (Churu Farm), Zimre office Building Mutare, Phumula Center at Victoria Falls, Government Composite office Block Harare, the New NSSA Headquarters building in Harare, Masterplan for the Bindura University of Science Education, and numerous Residential Flat complexes for the Mining industry Pension Fund such as Charingirah, Calder Gardens, Spencer Cook, to name a few.

Engr. Bamu took an active part in ZIE affairs from the late eighties becoming a fellow of the Institution in 1994 and President for the Year 1996-67. He served on a number of national boards including Air Zimbabwe, UZ Council, UZ African Languages Research Institute, NAMACO and the Bindura University of Science Education where he was the Vice Chairman of Council. Engr. Bamu is a fellow of the Institution of Structural Engineers and has been the Institution’s representative for the Washington, DC area since 2005.

He published 100 Years of Engineering Achievements in Zimbabwe, presented during the Centenary celebrations of the Scientific Council of Zimbabwe in 1997. He also published Zimbabwean Civil Engineering History and Landmarks, presented at the 2001 Annual conference of the American Society of Civil Engineering. He also co-authored two research papers on the long-term deterioration of reinforced concrete tower shells.

Since 2001, Engr. Bamu has been based in the USA, where he founded a structural engineering firm, PCB International located in the Washington, DC Metropolitan Area. In addition to traditional structural engineering, Engr. Bamu provides specialist engineering services including design of seismic bracing of non-structural components, as well as design of Physical and Technical Security Systems for individual buildings and compounds. He currently provides these services on US Embassy projects all over the world.

Over the past seven years, he has been involved in nearly thirty projects in Africa, Europe, Asia, South and Latin America.