The Guadalcanal Plains Palm Oil Limited(GPPOL) in the Solomon Islands received two awards at the Solomon Islands (SI) Business Excellence Awards night in Honiara on November 20 2021.  

GPPOL scooped the “Contribution to Sustainable Development and Community Award” and the highest award of the night- the prestigious “Prime Minister’s Business Excellence Award”. These are two awards out of a total of ten awards conferred during the event.  

The SI Business Excellence Awards is a high-profile event hosted bi-annually by the Solomon Islands Chamber of Commerce andIndustries in partnership with the Solomon Islands Government to recognise the contribution of the business community to the development of the country.  

The theme for 2021 was “Challenges toOpportunities in a COVID-19 World”, recognising the hard-work and efforts of local businesses to continue operations despite challenges posed by the global pandemic.  

In accepting the Sustainable Development and Community Award, Gibsone, GBPOL’s General Manager said that their commitment to sustainability and the community is one of the keys to its success and therefore the team is pleased to be recognised through this award. He said the icing on the cake was the honour of being awarded the prestigious Prime Minister’s award and it could not have come at a better time.  

GPPOL’s resilience to COVID-19 challenges was evident with zero laying-off of workers or scaling down of operations like some other organisations have done but the company is one of those that have operated as normal and even recruited more. GPPOL was one of the main revenue earners for the Solomon Islands while many other companies were laying off workers and scaling down operations.  

The General Manager’s tagline speech which resonated well with everyone was “sapos you lukim tanker blo GPPOL run longtown, Solomon Islands hem alright” (if you see the GPPOL’s tanker in town, then Solomon Islands is alright). Through NBPOL’s support with COVID-19/Preparedness and Emergency Response Plan (PERP) guidelines, GPPOL managed to remain vigilant during the height of the pandemic scare. One of the key challenges, was managing people’s expectations and this was achieved through open communication and dialogues to maintain confidence and trust of its people. The GPPOL management acknowledged that the success of its plans could not have been possible without the cooperation and support of its workers.  

The award was timely, as a morale boost forGPPOL, given the many challenges it has faced in recent years including the fight against the coconut rhinoceros beetle in 2017 and 2018 and also the COVID-19 pandemic.  

Gibsone thanked all 1,500 GPPOL employees who have worked tirelessly that resulted in GPPOL being awarded with the highest award of the night.  

GPPOL employees, on the other end, dedicated the two awards to the outgoing General Manager, Craig Gibsone. The dedication was in recognition of Gibsone’s outstanding leadership throughout difficult and challenging times, and for his services to GPPOL and SolomonIslands in the last 12 years. 

Team GPPOL wished Gibsone and his family all the best in their future endeavours. GPPOL also took the opportunity to welcome its new General Manager, Noor Azam, who was part of the executive team at the awards night.  

Since the inception of the awards in 2013,GPPOL won the Exporter of the Year Award (2015), Business Contribution to theCommunity Award (2015) and Large Business of the year Award (2017).