AN INTERVIEW WITH THE MD FOR RADIANCE PETROLEUM (MR EMMANUEL POBEE).
CAN YOU TAKE US THROUGH YOUR JOURNEY AS AN ENTREPRENEUR RELATED TO THE PETROLEUM INDUSTRY?
It’s been a long journey, you get to a point in your life where you ask yourself a lot of questions which needs answers. Some of the questions I have asked myself was that, “what do I need to do to impact life?”, which comes in a form as either giving employment to people or giving people inspiration or counselling them.
My choice was to create an avenue where people can be employed.
The petroleum sector is not what I began with, I did a lot of things which never worked and I learn from every business attempt that I make.But right now we’ve been successful with what we are doing.The Petroleum industry is a technical sector, thus, you need to have the know-how ability and also with the right administrative staff who will be reliable and ready to deal with you.
We began 5 years ago as dealership under one OMC, so we buy and sell the
products. During that period we had the chance to register as an oil marketing company, which helped us stretch across other parts of the country.
WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR BIGGEST CHALLENGE SO FAR BEING IN EXISTENCE FOR 5 YEARS?
Well, just as life itself is a challenge, waking up each day is a challenge and every decision you take has lots of strings attached to it, and that’s where the dignity of choice comes in.
Because every decision that you make is like a double edge sword, that can cut on both sides which can either bring expected results or unexpected results. So we’ve had lots of challenges but the main one that most young entrepreneurs face is FINANCING. When you don’t have funds, it’s sometimes difficult to even move to the level that you want to get to. The difficulty has been resources and even how to manage them is another challenge.
What is the process for someone who wants to get into the petroleum industry
As an expertise what advice will you give to young people who want to go into such business?
Specifically, in Ghana, the oil industry is regulated and it comes in different levels, We have OIL TRADING COMPANIES (OTC) which is a regulated field, BULK DISTRIBUTION COMPANIES (BDC), OMC then DEALERSHIPS. These are different levels of investment. Your understanding of the regulation will determine which part you want to deal with. Also, it depends on your working capital or investments.
When you have enough money you can enter into either OTC, BDC, OMC or as a dealer. But be sure of your knowledge and strength.
CAN YOU SHARE SOMETHING ABOUT YOUR FAMILY?
Family can never be separated from your business, especially as an entrepreneur, because after a long and sometimes frustrating day, you definitely need a good environment pleasant enough to have
people around to help you keep going. And that’s home. I have been able to place standards as the foundation for my children and gladly one is in the medical school and we still hoping for more.
I am also a God-fearing person. And one advice that I can tell every young entrepreneur out there is that “THE SKY IS NOT HIGH ENOUGH” 
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