Puma Lesotho says on massive expansion drive

MASERU – Stephane Nuetsha, Puma Lesotho’s General Manager, says the company is embarking on an expansion drive in Lesotho.

Nuetsha, who was recently appointed, said Puma Lesotho is now an independent entity reporting to the company’s regional office.

Puma Lesotho previously reported to South Africa.

This change, Nuetsha said, means Puma Lesotho now has the leeway to drive its local strategies to answer Lesotho’s energy needs.

He said Lesotho, like other countries, urgently needs access to reliable and increasingly sustainable energy solutions.

“Meeting the increasing demand creates many challenges but also opportunities,” Nuetsha said.

For Lesotho, he said, the challenges mean security of supply and opportunities could mean taking a leading position in driving energy transition on the continent.

Nuetsha said in the changing environment it is necessary for oil marketing companies like Puma Lesotho to transform themselves by putting customers at the heart of what they do.

“This need was made even truer with the sequence of global energy disruptions that the world has witnessed in the past years: Covid-19, then the Ukraine/Russia war and global warming.”

Nuetsha added that in this context Puma Energy through its mission of “energising communities”, aims at taking a responsible approach to provide reliable and increasingly diversified energy solutions to people and businesses, often in underserved communities.

He said in the short term, Puma Lesotho’s priority will be to build the foundation for inclusive and sustainable business growth, as they believe they could achieve that through three pillars.

The first pillar is the empowerment of dealers.

This, Nuetsha explained, means the company is strengthening technical and financial control support to dealers to help them achieve greater financial well-being.

The second pillar is that of accelerating localisation.

Nuetsha said the localisation effort is one of the “key aspects of deepening our contribution to the development of local businesses to increase the usage of local transporters”.

The third is investing in the retail network, revamping existing garages, broadening their service offering to meet the increasing needs of their customers and increasing footprint in the country to reach underserved communities.

He said in the medium to a long run Puma Energy Lesotho plans to fully support the energy transition in Lesotho through the “fuel of the future programme”.

He said the programme that they have already started in some of their African countries such as Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, and Ghana includes projects such as LPG for clean cooking or solar solutions for businesses.

The plan, Nuetsha said, is to continue with the objective to achieve 30 percent of their EBITDA in Africa from transition fuels and clean energy by the end of 2027.

Nuetsha said the decision to make Puma Lesotho an independent company shows that Puma Energy is committed to seeing its vision come true in Lesotho and is developing a strong and stand-alone business directly reporting to the head of Africa for quicker decision-making, increasing country autonomy and investment in the country.

Nkheli Liphoto