A section of Kenyans are set to be left jobless after a popular petrol station chain with branches across the country announced a planned mass firing.
In an official notice dated Wednesday, March 12, the company revealed that it had commenced a strategic business restructuring process aimed at significantly enhancing its profitability and market share in Kenya over the next five years.
The restructuring, announced by the company, will support an aggressive sales enhancement and operating cost containment program designed to reinforce its position as a major retailer of energy solutions.
Regrettably, the company announced that due to the foregoing challenges, it was finding it difficult to sustain its current fixed costs, necessitating the need for the firing.
"It is, therefore, with deep regrets, that we need to implement a redundancy program," the company announced in the official statement.
In a formal notification, the company stated that in the past year, it had initiated a rescue action plan with several initiatives to turn around the trajectory the company was taking, including increasing sales and reducing costs.
The company believes that restructuring and firing would reduce costs and reverse the current trends that have been placing it behind as it aims for sustainable growth.
It, however, assured the employees that the redundancy process would be managed with the utmost sensitivity and in full accordance with the laws of Kenya.
The petrol station is one of Africa’s leading retailing companies, with more than 1,300 service stations visited by over 500,000 customers per day in 17 countries.
It operates 60 fuel terminals and serves over 54 airports across the African continent, including Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) in Nairobi.
The company employs more than 1,500 people, and its operations generate 20,000 indirect jobs.
The petrol station entered the Kenyan petroleum market in December 2006 and then rebranded in 2018 to highlight its Pan-African nature and its commitment to quality and reliability. Although it offers a wide range of products and services in the energy sector, it focuses more on LPG gas.
Its market share fell to 5.93 per cent as of June 2024, a drop from the 7.06 per cent held in December 2023.
