Through sustained corporate philanthropy and social responsibility, Bollore Transport and Logistics have made significant contributions to the economy of Sierra Leone.
Sierra Leone, being a post-Ebola economy compounded by an outbreak of another devastating virus, Corona Virus Disease aka Covid-19, needs credible and serious investors for an economic turning point.
Bollore Company which has declared its relevance over the years has answered the call of the development aspirations of Sierra Leone. Communications Manager for Bollore, Gassimu Fofanah, said in the realisation of its corporate philanthropy, the transport company has helped several communities in Freetown and in the provinces.
Moa Wharf, Old Wharf, Sea Side, Grafton, Ross Road Police Station and the North-eastern regional headquarters of Makeni among others are communities that have tremendously benefitted from Bollore Company.
The communities put together received Le1, 137, 794, 269 (One Billion, Seven Hundred and Ninety-Four Million, Two Hundred and Sixty-Nine Thousand Leones worth of commodities for community development.
Blind School in Makeni and other communities, Mr Fofanah said, got over Le177M worth of Covid-19 materials, Ross Road Police station bagged home Le33M in 300 bags donated, Sea Side Communities got Le12M worth of 200 bags offered them for road construction, Well Woman Clinic benefitted Le20M to raise awareness on breast cancer, King George Old People’s Home Grafton, got a share of over Le57M in food stuff, toiletries and provisions as well as other communities.
The donation to the communities, the Communications Manager says, is part of a significant corporate philanthropy undertaken by Bollore since 2020. Most of the development projects undertaken by Bollore, Mr Fofanah explains, are in line with the community’s development aspirations.
He points out Moa Wharf community where, he says, the company is constructing a community centre that the people requested for.
“The Moa Wharf community appealed to the company that they needed a community centre where they would conduct their social activities,” he said.
He also emphasised that solar installations were also done in the community to improve services there.
Apart from donations to deprived communities, Bollore Company, through its Technical Department, has also made an electrical installation from its port to Blackhall Community in Freetown. Head of Technical Department, Sylvain Ndour told journalists that the new cable which now benefits Blackhall community stands at Le2Bn.
“95% of Bollore’s energy is being used from outside, and this drastically reduces the consumption of fuel by the company,” Mr Ndour pointed out. The less consumption of fuel by Bollore Company goes a long way to cut down on gas emission for environmental protection.
“The more we use fuel, the more impact we cause on the environment,” he opines.
The company is in a better position to help the country, Mr Ndour says, owing to prudent management of its finances through fiscal discipline. Bollore’s Financial controller, Amidu Jalloh says the company’s financial management system is in line with international standards, and also compliant with the country’s accounting and tax laws.
“Since we run an international company, we must comply with international standards,” he said.
Mr Jalloh moved from management of finances to statistics of the imports and exports services the company has been rendering to the country and outside. From last year to October, 2020, he goes on, 195 goods were imported as against 197 last year.
He attributed the reason to the priority the country places on the import of essential commodities such as rice, cooking oil, flour among others. “Due to the lockdown, most of the importers import too much of what they need so that they can supply their customers when borders close again,” he said.
However, the Head of finance states that there has been 11% decrease in export from Sierra Leone this year.
Mr Jalloh attributed the drop of Sierra Leonean exports to the closure of India’s borders for six months as according him; most of Sierra Leone’s exports go to India and other Asian countries. In the area of vehicular import however, Mr Jalloh went on, a drop of 16% was recorded since vehicles do not fall within the category of “necessary goods.”
“Some people will buy food and stuck it instead of buying vehicles,” he maintains.
Mr Jalloh also assured Sierra Leone that Bollore still maintains its capacity to serve the people, and continues to explore new ways to improve on services.
“Customers will continue to get their goods very quickly,” he assured.
Bollore also continues to maintain and improve on its inter-agency relationship with key state public institutions. The Terminal Analyst for Freetown Terminal Mr Darrell Coker informs the press that the company has been working with the Anti-Corruption Commission and CIC in terms of data and information sharing.
“We are proud to appeal to government to cushion the price of owners of containers in the Covid-19 period,” he said.
Bollore, he says, has recorded the sum of Le30Bn as waivers for which customers are very much pleased and happy.
Mr Coker also made it clear that his company prevents fraud in its transactions by networking with Customs as well as Clearing and forwarding agency.
“We educate our staff on the ethical and corrupt side of doing business,” he emphasised.
The company, he went on, had increased bank outlets for fast payment and reduction of clustering and congestion. Mr Coker says Bollore is working on tele-payment services for which the Finance Department will not charge for several goods.
“Freetown Terminal is on the threshold of changing things, and we are ready,” he says.
In the achievement of important milestones in its corporate Philanthropy and social responsibility Bollore has put in place strong internal mechanism of personnel safety and development, sound emolument packages and other fringe benefits which definitely enhance personnel capacity for productivity.
Patrick Sannoh is the Quality, Health, Safety and Development Manager of Bollore Company.
He said policies had been put in place notably the Health and Safety as well as environmental policies to ensure that workers are safe at work.
An emergency policy, he says, is also in place to guide personnel in what they do during emergency.
Mr Sannoh further informed pressmen that the company takes pride in waste contractors to ensure that wastes are deposited to their appropriate sites.
Bollore employees, he says, are given the platform to hold consultation on issues of health and safety.
“It is mandatory that management meets with staff every Friday to know if anything went wrong the previous days during work,” he said.
Mr Sannoh says whenever Bollore intends to embark on critical operations, management holds pre-staff meeting with employees so that they could be briefed on what they need to understand and implement.
“During such meetings, we identify risks to ensure that no one is involved in any accident. Most times, we do field exercises to let them know what to do in case one involves in an accident,” he emphasised.
Safety equipment, Mr Sannoh continued, were provided for the employees, and progress monitored for better results.
Bollore statistics show that in 2017, the company recorded no accident. In 2018 and 2019, the company however recorded two accidents and one respectively of minor nature.
He says the company works assiduously to ensure that its personnel are safe from the Coronavirus noting that the Ebola experience capacitate them to protect their workers from Covid-19.
“We have no staff that contracted neither Ebola nor Coronavirus because we started early preparation,” he concluded.
In its successful achievement of its business objectives, the role of Bollore’s Human Resource Department (HRD) is most crucial. A look at administrative policies Bollore has been pursuing over the years, it is safe to say the policies are employee centered.
Head of HR Manager, Claurinda Morgan informed the audience that Bollore has moved from its traditional role of hiring and firing to personnel retention through training, development and commitment.
Madam Morgan put Bollore’s staff strength at 318, 6 managers, 4 expatriates and 44 contract staff who, she says, have been with the company between 2013 and 2014.
She said contracts awarded to staff usually last for a year, but could be renewed owing to satisfactory performance. Assurances for renewal of contracts of contract staff exist implying that Bollore is satisfied with their overall performance.
“Contract staffs are treated fairly especially on their retirement benefit. We pay National and Social Security Insurance Trust (NASSIT) as long as a contract staff has been with the company for over three months,” she said.
The Human Resource Chief also states that Bollore’s minimum wage bill stands at Le1.142M (One Million One Hundred and Forty-Two thousand Leones), a sum that doubles Sierra Leone’s recognised minimum wage.
Overtime allowances, she says, are also paid to any staff that works beyond the normal eight-hour period.
“Le150, 000 (One Hundred and Fifty Thousand Leones) is calculated each weekday and Le100, 000 (One Hundred Thousand Leones) for weekend for any employee who works over time,” she pointed out.
“The system is transparent and no one is cheated,” she assured.
Inconvenience allowances for Bollore drivers have not been ruled out. “Drivers who leave their houses at 4am to catch up at 8am when the actual day’s work begins are given inconvenience allowances. The same thing applies to staff who works late at night,” she stressed.
Madam Morgan also informed the audience that a succession plan is currently in place since the number of expatriate staff is dwindling. It is towards the realisation of an effective succession plan that the company encourages local staff to learn from the expatriates for suitable replacement.
“We do not expect the number of Expatriate staff to go up. We either maintain it as it is or we decrease it,” she said.
Madam Morgan’s statement on the capacity building of local staff for a future replacement of the expatriate ones portrays Bollore as a company that adores and cherishes the country’s local content policy. No doubt, Bollore wants the best for its employees so that it can meet the diverse needs and interests of its customers.
The company can in turn meet its honoured corporate philanthropy and social responsibility which it hopes will endear it to a great many Sierra Leoneans.