The making of the man behind Davilor
In less than five years founder William Sah has taken Davilor Construction Services from what began as a two person team to the considerable operation it is now. Davilor now boasts some of the largest companies in the UK as clients.
He has taken his company from strength to strength, growing 50% in 2021 and expanding into international markets.
The grit, determination, enthusiasm and ingenuity of William lie at the heart of its rapid growth and the talent of the Davilor operation as a whole.
William’s unshakeable motivation and positive attitude sees his team tackling and raising the bar in the most difficult of projects.
To understand where that unique attitude comes from, you have to know his story growing up in French Cameroon.
He describes himself as ‘written off’ by his family because he was not academic and sent to a distant cousin to help raise her children when he was seven years old.
Enterprising and ingenious from a young age, William would carry his little brother on his back home from school.
This enabled him to save half the taxi fare his step parents gave him because his brother was too small to walk the distance, and to save capital for his own farm.
By the time he was studying for the equivalent of his NVQs, he had a farm of 300 rabbits, 250 pigs and 1500 chickens that he looked after before and after school. Not to mention his five younger brothers and sisters he looked after too.
He found the busier he was with his farm and chores at home, the more he was able to focus and succeed at school.
William was always more interested in the physical and practical than academic side of things.
With frequent electricity and power shortages at home, he took a vocational degree in electricity installation. And, went on afterwards to the next challenge of his baccalaureate (the French equivalent of A Levels) in construction.
Struggling to find a good construction and civil engineering book in French, he decided he wanted to learn English. No better place than England to do that.
Against the odds, he secured a place at Bolton University in Construction Management and a visa to England to study there.
After selling everything he had and borrowing what he could, he had enough for flights, the first year’s fees and two weeks accommodation.
He arrived in Bolton in 2009 with £600 in his pocket and didn’t speak English.
After many nights sleeping in the library or at the bus station after shifts on four jobs, the breakthrough came.
The construction academy Kier Northern saw his pure enthusiasm for everything construction, even down to how the bricks in England were made.
With help from his lecturers on his CV, they eventually took him on as an apprentice student during the holidays.
Next up was learning to ride a bike to cycle the eight miles there and back. There is no obstacle that cannot be overcome for William.
To this day, he believes that early construction site experience gave him the edge which now infuses into Davilor Construction’s success for its clients.
