Mrs. Beatrice Lugalambi (C), General Manager Corporate Communications and Marketing at Centenary Bank shares alight moment with David Lutalo. This was at Capital Shoppers Ntinda during the official launch of Centenary Banks’ Cente Christmass promo.

By Our Reporter

Centenary Bank has launched a customer centric reward promo dubbed “Cente Christmas.”

The eight-week long campaign that was unveiled on Tuesday at Capital Shoppers, Ntinda is tailored towards encouraging the bank’s customers to embrace the use of alternative banking channels that are digitally-driven.

These channels are meant to help minimize the need for customers to travel long distances to access services, since a good number of them live in the rural areas. Other benefits that customers can enjoy are saving on their valuable time and transport costs as well as the convenience of transacting anytime, anywhere.

Mrs. Immaculate Ngulumi, the Chief Manager Marketing and Branding explained that the Cente Christmas campaign will focus on promoting usage of three alternative channels namely; CenteAgent, CenteMobile and CenteVisa.

“Customers who transact a minimum of three times weekly using any of these channels will be rewarded with millions in cash, gift baskets and shopping bonanzas,” Ms. Ngulumi remarked.

The prizes are categorised into three tiers namely; Trolley Dash (Shopping Bonanza), Gift Hampers and cash prizes. Winners will be awarded at the weekly draws held every Friday.

The country-wide campaign will see over 1,500 bank customers win throughout the promotion between now and end of December, 2019.

By Staff Writer

Vivo Energy, the leading pan-African distributor and retailer of Shell and Engen-branded fuels and lubricants, has held its annual Safety Day across the whole company, reinforcing the importance of Health, Safety, Security & Environment (HSSE) at Vivo Energy.

Safety Day is an opportunity for all employees and contractors at Vivo Energy to refocus on the importance of HSSE. The theme of this year’s event: “Safety: Why it matters to me”, invited employees, contractors and partners to express why safety mattered to them, focusing on personal testimonials on why they felt safety was important.  In addition to the testimonials, Safety Day activity included townhall meetings, safety education courses, on-site safety inspections and team quizzes. The company’s ultimate ambition is to achieve a world-class safety culture, where HSSE is fully integrated into the ways of working for all parties at Vivo Energy.

In Uganda, Vivo Energy staff visited retail sites to engage with the retail teams on the importance of safety to their operations and personal lives, on product cross overs and contamination and security incidents. The staff teams carried out a detailed Health, Safety, Security and Environment inspection of their Shell fuel stations to gauge effectiveness and implementation of the company’s established safety regulations and practices among its customer facing personnel at the stations. 

The Country Leadership Team visited its Contractor and Haulier sites to hold staff meetings and carry out safety inspections; in an extension of the Safety Week activities.

During the Safety Day Staff Town Hall held at Vivo Energy Uganda offices, Managing Director Gilbert Assi commended all staff and contractors for the stellar HSSE track record maintained by the Uganda operating unit in 2019.

“Safety Day this year urges us to stop and reflect on why safety is important to us. When we personalise safety, its importance is brought into clear perspective. Safety, both personal and at your work place and homes cannot be overemphasised. We owe it to ourselves, our families, our colleagues at work, our customers and to everyone. I urge you to all continue to espouse our safety practices now more than ever in your daily routine,’ said Assi.

Umeme Managing Director Selestino Babungi who attended the celebrations as the Chief Guest, lauded Vivo Energy Uganda for championing occupational health and safety at the workplace. He urged the triple ISO certified company to share best practices on safety with all stakeholders in order to create safer work environments.

Grant Bairstow, Head of HSSE for the Vivo Energy Group said: “Safety is an integral and essential part of everything we do at Vivo Energy and remains an absolute priority across the business for our staff and contractors.  Whilst safety is embedded across the company our annual Safety Day provides a moment for all our teams to stop; reflect on why safety matters to them; and ensure we are doing everything we can to achieve our aim of ‘Goal Zero’ – no harm to people and minimising our impact on the environment.”

Bairstow concluded: “Vivo Energy has a very strong safety record, but we can always do more and we must never become complacent. We have successfully adopted a proactive culture of safety and are proud of our strong Total Recordable Case Frequency of 0.19 incidents per million exposure hours in 2018.  We continue to work hard to achieve our HSSE goals in order to make continued progress to become Africa’s most respected energy business.”

L-R: Gilbert Assi, Managing Director of Vivo Energy Uganda, Hans Paulsen, Executive Vice President East and Southern Africa at Vivo Energy, Hon. Allan Sewanyana, Makindye West Member of Parliament and Mark Davidson, Managing Director of Bosch Service Uganda cut the ribbon to officially open the Bosch Express outlet at Shell Makindye.

By Our Reporter

Vivo Energy Uganda has announced the addition of 16 new Shell service stations, expanding the Shell network countrywide and bringing the total number of service stations in Uganda to 151.

The expansion is part of the company’s strategy to make Shell fuels, lubricants and services more accessible and deliver ultra-convenience to motorists and shoppers across the country.

The announcement was made at the official opening of Shell Makindye, a new service station that features a KFC restaurant and Bosch Car Service centre.
“Our ambition is to provide an exceptional retail experience at all our service stations, reaching more people with better products and services wherever we do business. We are investing significantly to make this a reality by expanding our footprint,” said Gilbert Assi, Managing Director, Vivo Energy Uganda.

The new service stations include Shell Kisoro, Shell Juba Road, Shell Katosi, Shell Masaka Highway, Shell Katungulu, Shell Janda, Shell Kabale Highway, Shell Bulindo, Shell Kiwatule, Shell Tula, Shell Buwama, Shell Mityana and Shell Makindye.

Speaking at the event, Gilbert Assi added that the expansion results into an 8.6% growth in the Shell service station network across the country to ensure convenience and accessibility for customers. “The need for network expansion is informed by the growth of Uganda’s economy and improvement in infrastructure which has opened up new roads and suburbs. This compels our investment to scale up provision of high quality products and services to meet the growing and changing motorists’ needs.”

Mr. Assi revealed that the company had adopted a strategy to turn the Shell service stations into retail destinations, offering a wide range of services. Vivo Energy Uganda has brought on board internationally renowned partners who offer complementary non-fuel services, including Bosch and KFC.

Shell Kira Road and Shell Makindye feature a Bosch Car Service outlet, an internationally renowned car workshop service offering expert automotive advice, repair and maintenance work with Bosch quality products, for all car makes and models, by technicians trained on the latest automotive technology.

“Research into consumer behaviour indicates that our customers now seek more convenient solutions and want to do more in one place. Our stations now offer a wider variety of services, providing more convenience to our customers. We now offer financial services, modern food courts and diners, car parts and automotive services, among others,” Assi added.

In June this year, Vivo Energy announced the formation of a 50:50 joint venture with Kuku Foods East Africa Holdings, the owner of KFC franchises in East Africa to accelerate the roll-out of KFC restaurants in Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda.

“These new service stations will also stimulate economic growth through the creation of employment in the communities where we invest. As a result of the network expansion, a total of 400 direct jobs and hundreds of indirect jobs have been created across the country this year,” said Assi.

Assi also noted that network expansion would result in increased tax remittances as a result of sales growth.

According to the Uganda Revenue Authority, Vivo Energy Uganda remitted taxes to the tune of UGX 398.9 billion in 2018/19, becoming the third largest taxpayer in the country.