By Amin Kef Sesay
The National Petroleum Limited-Sierra Leone (NP-SL Ltd) has been rated as one of the well-established indigenous companies that are constructively and positively impacting the socio-economic development of the country.
This thriving and forward-looking company had its humble beginning when thirty-five former workers of the British Petroleum Company that folded up by selling its shares to the Government of Sierra Leone which in turn also sold those shares to the 35 aforementioned founding fathers.
After that transaction, as a result of the selflessness on the part of the founders, coupled with the thorough infusing of brilliant initiatives, NP-SL Ltd has continued to make steady progress within the petroleum landscape of this country.
One area that the Shareholders and various Management teams placed premium on and harnessed very well relates to enhancing customer care. As far as these founders were concerned giving maximum and utmost satisfaction to its numerous and esteemed customers was very paramount among its development agenda.
It was against such a backdrop that they took the decision to import and install modern and well-functioning calibrated pumping machines at all its leading Filling Stations. These calibrated pumping machines, it has been proven, are highly capable of pumping the exact quantity of fuel that customers demand or purchase as they are manufactured in ways that make it possible to display the prices and quantity of fuel put in for.
Many have indeed expressed satisfaction relating to their performance based on the fact that whenever customers conduct transactions they always have the feeling that they are deriving value for money.
Well known as 1st for Customer Care posture, this result-oriented oil marketing company has been at the forefront in taking into consideration various concerns expressed not only but its customers but also the wider citizenry as well. In the mapping out of corporate policies these expressed concerns are factored as the Managers do hold the strong conviction that external decisions and concerns are very vital sources of developing marketing strategies and solidly rolling them out for the development of the business entity.
One portfolio that the company has been successfully implementing really borders on consistently abiding by the country’s Local Content Policy which puts premium on effectively making use of both local human and material resources.
It has been ascertained that it is a laid down policy on the part of the company to have in its employ Sierra Leoneans unless on rare occasions when foreign expertise, knowledge or skill is required. This stance on the part of the Shareholders of the company has been highly and widely hailed as one that is very good and instrumental within the realm of poverty reduction and availing those who were hitherto jobless to be gainfully employed and live improved standards of living.
To make business transaction very simplistic the owners of the petroleum company thought it prudent to introduce the use of NP Smart Card. With this Card that contains a memory chip, a customer can credit it or load it with a certain amount of money which he or she can in turn use to purchase fuel, petrol or diesel, without making use of physical cash. It has been rated as a very convenient channel of purchasing fuel and gives customers the advantage to properly budget for the purchase of a required quantity of fuel for a period of say a week or month. NP Smart Card, it has been agreed, promotes the safety of customers’ monies as it minimizes the possibility of losing monies that are assigned to be used to purchase fuel.
NP Gas has been identified by many as an efficient cooking gadget simply because of fastness in terms of high speed performance. Manufactured in different cylinder sizes and marketed at the company’s Filling Stations and by authorized dealers, NP Gas could be easily refilled with gas that can be secured from the company. Environmentalists have certified it as not injurious to the health of individuals by any harmful gaseous emissions. It is sold at affordable prices and now going like hot cakes on the market.
This top notch oil marketing company has etched its name for championing the rolling out of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CRS) through giving support to certain national causes. The company was recently very magnanimous to donate the sum of One Billion Leones to the Government of Sierra Leone as its own contribution towards the fight against the spread of coronavirus in the country. Such a decision, it was made known, came out of the belief that if we are to succeed in the fight against this enemy of progress then it demands collective action.
Still within the domain of implementing its CRS, NP-SL Ltd is on record for capacitating the National Fire Force, Kissy Branch, with a state of art water facility that is capable of pumping a considerable amount of water into fire engines to be used for fire extinguishing purposes within Greater Freetown. This was considered to be a big boost for the Fire Force especially when cognisance is taken of the constraints to access water.
So far it has been agreed that NP-SL Ltd is one of the fastest growing and enterprising companies as evident in establishing branches in neighbouring Guinea, Liberia, Ivory Coast and The Gambia. The company is doing so much with regards deepening socio-economic developments everywhere it is operating and improving lives.
