An African proverb once told me by a wise man goes thus: “If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together.

This is exactly the guiding philosophy that continues to guide and direct the phenomenal growth trajectory that is Century Group, a growing and very influential player in the energy sector.

The Ken Etete led Century Group guided by these strong and affirmative ideological vision have succeeded in building one of Africa’s major Energy platforms’ as can be evidenced with the Group being the first company in Africa to predominantly focus on floaters. Century has been able to offer cost effective ‘derisking’ solutions to clients in a period when options are limited and incentives for production are scarce.

Falling back on its vision for partnerships and sustainable growth, Century has built a worthy partnership with Bumi Armada Berhad (BAB) a Malaysian owned International offshore energy facilities and servicing Company which has amongst others aided it to attain very strong mileage in the market space. This can better be appreciated with the emergence of Century as a leading African Indigenous firm transmuting from a major service provider to a formidable asset owner. Today, with the effective partnership with the aforementioned BAB, Century is competing excellently in the tanker space within the African Markets.

Furthermore, the partnership has taken advantage of the local content policy to become a crucial player in the Floating Platform Storage Output (FPSO) – (Perkassa& Perdana) deals in Nigeria.

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Mr Etete in a recent discussion averred to the fact that, ‘it all started on Sloan Street in London in 2006 with the birth of Bumi Armada Nigeria and BAB’s first two FPSO (Perkassa & Perdana) deals in Nigeria. According to him, BAB gave Century opportunities to showcase its capabilities under reasonable terms and were flexible to respond to the realities of the Nigerian oil and gas tanker needs and resources. Today, ‘we own two of our own and again BAB has a hand in making that a reality’. He concluded by stating that ‘The Management of BAB despite contractual differences were objective, civil, transparent and practical in considering the interests of all; for this, I am humbled’.

Century Group and its partners according to Etete, are showing that in business, growth and speed anchored on revenue is not always an indication of success. Successful corporations are those which transcend generations and empower people to achieve something profound and new. Organizations can go farther when they collaborate and look beyond the immediate business rainbows to support each other genuinely.

BAB, an Asian company has done a great service to Africa by promoting a company with global focus in providing innovative solutions. With a unique and mutually respectful relationship like this, this partnership will surely have a lot more to achieve together thereby deepening expectations and showcasing to global markets the very strong positives embedded in a value driven growth trajectory amongst serious partners.

Vanguard