By Olaoluwa Mimiola
The owner of BOVAS & Company Limited could be said to ardently believe in the thought of Roy T. Bennett, author of The Light in the Heart, that says “Be brave to stand for what you believe in even if you stand alone.”
At a time when her peers in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector are scrambling over ill-conceived profits, Mrs Victoria A. Samson, the Managing Director of BOVAS & Company Limited, popularly called Mama BOVAS has continued to hold on to her business principles.
It can be seen that Mama BOVAS’s fuel stations are more concerned with the financial situation and satisfaction of their customers than they are with the perverse windfall. Nigerians have reported that BOVAS fuel stations never sell above the pump price, never hoard fuel, and refuse to adjust the selling pump meter, which is curiously the new elements of selling tradition in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector.
Her insistence on the standard price of fuel, especially considering the ridiculous volume of profit that her peers are making as they lean on the economy’s instability and milk Nigerians milk has won Mama BOVAS the respect of Nigerians.
But could Mrs Samson be described as naive and ignorant about money-making when the opportunity presents itself? No. This is becsuse she has been in the oil and gas industry for almost three decades. She was the first Nigerian to win the Texaco Latin America West Africa (LAWA) Award for Best Overall Dealer in 1990 for the highest sales in both regions combined. Moreover, her ownership of a company that has 119 service stations nationwide says something about her business acumen.
About BOVAS Company Limited
The Bovas Group currently consists of BOVAS & Company Limited (under which the BOVAS Service Stations operate), BOVAS Gas, BOVAS Mart, BOVAS Bulk Storage Facilities and BOVAS Haulage.
The company was incorporated in 1980 and granted an operational license to carry out business in Nigeria. The establishment of Bovas is aimed at filling the gap in the supply chain (distribution) of petroleum products both as bulk breakers and retailers. Bovas, which started as a medium scale company, was established by professionals, with the primary goal of bridging the supply chain gap while also adding value to the business. The Company was, therefore, to function as a self-sustaining institution involved in the downstream sector of the petroleum industry in Nigeria and growing through expansion to cover other parts of the West Coasts, other African countries and beyond.
With a modest Head Office located at Ibadan, the Company commenced business research and market activities in 1990 in Oshogbo in Osun State of Nigeria and to date, has 35 outlets in dispensing stations, LPG plant, a Tank Farm and Marts in the dispensing stations. Bovas, among its peers, is a company to watch given the strong goodwill that the company has due to the perception of the founders, Board of Directors and Management Team. The promoters comprise tested Nigerians of integrity who have distinguished themselves in various fields of human endeavours. See less
Mama BOVAS can only be encouraged to continue to be the stitch of matches in the thick darkness of Nigeria’s oil and gas industry. The deluge of the customers of her filling stations, who have benefited from the larges of her rare (in the Nigerian context) but of international best practices should just continue to pray for her, as, surely, some of her peers, who are crooked in their ways, would, no doubt, not wish her well.
Well done, Mama BOVAS. You are an encouragement to many just as you are an arch-enemy to so many.
*Mimiola, an award-winning journalist sent in this piece from Abuja.
