By MAIMBOLWA MULIKELELA-
MT Meru Group of Companies, established in 1978 with presence in Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Malawi and Rwanda, has assured of its continued support to the growth of the Zambian economy through the supply of fuel and processing of edible oils.
The company said that its shareholders, who are all of Indian origin and based in Tanzania, are committed to the highest levels of corporate governance, ethics and corporate social responsibility.
The company says that due to its good credentials it had even partnered with the Clinton and Hunter Foundation and other shareholders in an edible oils venture in Rwanda.
The Group has been operating in Zambia since 2007 under Mount Meru Petroleum (Z) Limited, a licensed oil marketing company, and Mount Meru Millers (Z) Limited, an edible oils processing company.
Currently, Mount Meru Group of Companies has a turnover of US$500 million in Eastern and Central Africa, making it one of the major business groups in the petroleum and edible oils sectors in the region.
To this effect, the company has employed a total of more than 800 people in Zambia.
A Mount Meru Petroleum (Z) Limited statement pointes out: “It has come to our attention that some individuals are circulating malicious and damaging misinformation about the operations of Mount Meru Group of Companies.
“Given our recent experience with some individuals who unsuccessfully attempted to demand money from one of our Companies, it is our considered view that the said statements could be the work of the same individuals.”
Contrary to the allegation that Mount Meru sells contaminated fuel, Mount Meru explained that the incident in issue occurred when a fuel attendant mistakenly put petrol in a diesel car saying the incidence which occurred was purely due to human error.
“We offered to repair the damage caused to the car as assessed by Toyota Zambia Limited, but the owner of the car demanded an unreasonable amount of money from the company failure to which he threatened to discredit the company,” the statement said.
With respect to the source of its fuel, Mount Meru, like all other oil marketing companies, procures all its fuel from Indeni Oil Refinery in Ndola.
Mount Meru does not import any fuel from outside the country, adding that the company uses its Geo Tab installed/satellite tracked fleet of tankers to transport fuel directly to its service stations from Indeni or directly to its commercial customer’s sites.
“Mount Meru does not offload any fuel at its Depot. Mount Meru Petroleum Limited’s total purchases of Kerosene only amount to less than one per cent of its total sales, most of which is delivered to a service station in Luapula Province where it used in the fishing industry.”
The company enjoys a substantial share of the Zambian fuel market selling up to 100 million liters of fuel per annum.
Furthermore, thousands of vehicles fuel at Mount Meru Petroleum stations on a daily basis throughout the country and that none of which have complained that the fuel sold by the company was contaminated.
Apart from that, the fuel sold by Mount Meru Petroleum is routinely subjected to stringent tests by the Energy Regulation Board (ERB) and all other Regulatory Authorities in the petroleum industry.
This is in addition to the internal quality assurance procedures employed by the company to ensure that products sold to its customers were up to the required standards.
To show its continued commitment, Mount Meru Petroleum (Z) Limited has opened ten service stations in Lusaka alone and another ten stations
across the country.
In response to Government’s call for the establishment of service stations in rural parts of the country, the company is in the process of establishing its presence in the underserviced and fuel-deficit areas of rural Zambia. To this effect, there were on-going projects for service stations in Nyimba and Namwala districts.

MT Meru Millers Limited-
Mount Meru Millers (Z) Limited (MMML) a multi- million dollar investment located in Katuba, 26 kilometres north of Lusaka, boasts one of the largest factories of its kind in the region.
The Soyola brand of cooking oil produced by MMML is fast becoming a household name despite being on the market for just a few months.
MMML buys all the soya beans used in the processing of cooking oil locally, thereby providing a soya bean ready and reliable market for farmers in Zambia.
The company said its flagship plant in Katuba is a practical example of value-addition through agro-processing.
Furthermore, the company is constructing a cotton seed processing plant for cooking oil which is expected to start its operations soon. Once
operational, this additional plant will create more employment and will provide a ready market for cotton seed.
The Milling Plant in Katuba has brought development and inspired a lot of satellite enterpenurial activities in the area. The MMML has already started bringing development to Katuba and beyond and is a clear testimony of private sector driven development in Zambia.
Another positive factor of the edible oils investment has been the reduction in the price of cooking oil due to the competition introduced by the Soyola brand of cooking oil on the Zambian market.
“Given our corporate credentials and levels of investment there is no way we could be selling contaminated fuel. The allegations made against our Group of Companies about selling contaminated fuel are therefore false, malicious and clearly calculated to harm our business and embarrass our shareholders, management and staff”
“We therefore advise our esteemed customers, stakeholders and the general public to ignore the false statements being peddled against us.” Mr. Butler Sitali, one of the Directors stated.
Contact Mount Meru Petroleum (Z) Limited on +260 211 255241