Monrovia – A leading importer and distributor of Petroleum products in Liberia, Petro Trade Inc. has been awarded the internationally recognized ISO 9001:2015 Certificate in Quality Management. Petro Trade is the first petroleum company in Liberia to receive this prestigious award, which was presented to the company at a special certification program held on August 13, 2018 at Boulevard Palace on the Tubman Boulevard in Sinkor, Monrovia, Liberia.
The ISO 9000 family is a set of standards or principles that are maintained by the International Standard for Organizations which is based in Geneva, Switzerland. Organizations and companies around the world can use these principles to ensure that their products and services consistently meet international quality standards and fulfill customer requirements.
The Certification program at Boulevard Palace was attended by the Government of Liberia, represented by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MOCI), the National Investment Commission(NIC) and the Liberia Petroleum Refining Company (LPRC), members of the business community in Liberia including other stakeholders in the petroleum industry, as well as members of the public.
Speaking at the program, the Chairman and Chief Business Development Officer of Petro Trade, Mr. Ibrahim Hamdan, thanked his staff and everyone else that worked tirelessly to propel his company to this new level. Mr. Hamdan presented the vision of his entity to be a “Class A” Petroleum Company and the undisputed leader within the petroleum industry in Liberia. To underscore this remarkable achievement, Mr. Hamdan revealed that the Certification of Petro Trade to ISO 9001:2015 coincides with the launch of the company’s new Retail Network, which is a project to upgrade and expand the company’s network of retail service stations to 40. In his brilliant presentation Mr. Hamdan systematically described the quality and source of the components and equipment that his company has ordered for use in its new retail network project.
Speaking on behalf of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the Director of the National Standards Laboratory at the Ministry, Mr. Steven Y. Mambu described Petro Trade’s achievement as the “emergence of a clear leader within the Private Sector in Quality Management”. Mr. Mambu recalled a survey that was done a few years ago amongst companies and businesses within the ECOWAS sub region. The survey was aimed at identifying institutions within the ECOWAS sub region that were ISO certified. Unfortunately, Liberian businesses did not meet up to this standard at the time and this failure put them at a major disadvantage in bidding for and winning contracts at the sub regional level. He explained that the sub regional body (ECOWAS) was now lobbying its member states to enshrine having a Quality Management System within their procurement laws in order to encourage and promote a culture of quality and excellence within the sub region. With this in mind he disclosed that his Ministry was organizing a National Quality Training Program to help build the capacity of local businesses and to educate them on the significance of having a Quality Management System.
Speaking on behalf of the Management and Staff of the Liberia Petroleum Refining Company, the special representative of the Managing Director, Mr. Stanley Ford, also extolled the Management and Staff of Petro Trade for the huge step they have taken in achieving the ISO Certification. Mr. Stanley acknowledged that Quality was very important to LPRC. He went further by stating that it was a legal requirement on the part of LPRC to provide a high level of service to its customers. He noted that it was this recognition of LPRC’s statutory responsibilities that was driving the entity to carry out the current rehabilitation of its Petroleum Storage Terminal PST). He said that the certification of Petro Trade meant that LPRC was “assured the somebody somewhere was now monitoring quality standards in Liberia”. He said he was personally looking forward to using his credit, debit and loyalty cards at the new 24/7 Petro Trade Service Stations when opened.
Thanking the guests at the program the Chief Coordinating Officer at Petro Trade, Mr. Abraham Kaydea, expressed his appreciation to everyone for taking time off their busy schedules to attend the program. He noted that although the ISO Certification was a significant achievement for Petro Trade, he said that this would not have been possible without the help and support of others. He lauded the Ministry of Commerce and Industry as well as the Liberia Petroleum Refining Company for setting the regulatory environment for the Petroleum industry within which his company operates. He also thanked other stakeholders within the petroleum industry and partners within the wider business community for working closely with Petro Trade over the years.
The official ISO 9001:2015 Certificate was handed over to Petro Trade by Mr. Kwasi Okai-Mensah, Certification Manager for SGS Ghana, the company the carried out the ISO assessment on Petro Trade.
Petro Trade has also been making the headlines over the last few weeks. On July 24th of this year the company identified with the workers of LPRC by donating 600 bags of rice and oil in appreciation of the cordial working relationship that it has enjoyed with LPRC over the years.
The company also made another Independence Day gesture when staff of Petro Trade visited the flood-affected communities of Mount Barclay and Soul Clinic on July 26, 2018 and delivered three cargo truck-loads of urgently needed relief items for the flood victims in those communities.