Official: 99pc of Puma outlets run by SMEs

NINETY-nine per cent of Puma Energy’s retail outlets are run by small medium enterprises (SME) who are local Papua New Guineans, an official says.
Puma Energy country manager Jim Collings said this during the Micro Small Medium Enterprise (MSME) and Papua New Guinea Small Medium Enterprise (SME) business breakfast yesterday.
“The MSME sector is a large part of how we run our operations here in the country,” Collings said.
“In our framework, we focus on our retail outlets and I am pleased to say that 99 per cent of our outlets are now run by SMEs, who are private PNG citizens.”
He said another important programme that Puma Energy was undertaking to help the local SME was their liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) business.
“The other area that has been more exciting is our LPG business which has in the last two years delivered 350 SMEs through our dealers and resellers.
“That has been a significant part of our success and growth and we will have well over 500 SME’s by the end of the year.”
He said the approach helped resellers sell gas bottles but contributed to the empowerment of women in business as well.