A 25-year old Ghanaian, Famous Boateng has been crowned as the 2016 Regional and Global Forecourt Service Champion at the Shell Global Smiling Stars Programme in New York, USA. Prior to this recognition, he was adjudged as the 2016 Best Service Champion for Ghana.
These awards make Boateng the first Ghanaian, first African and the first person from a licensed market to have won the local league, regional and ultimately winning the global award at the Shell Global Customer Excellence Awards.
For his reward, Boateng got a cash prize of $25,000, two plaques (silver and gold), an autographed model helmet from the four-time Ferrari Formula One World Champion, Sebastian Vettel and Shell branded souvenirs. In addition, Famous Boateng will embark on an all-expense paid trip to the next Smiling Stars event in Dubai.
Out of a total votes of 1500, Famous Boateng impressively pulled 1,100 votes competing with 500,000 Shell Quality Marshalls from Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, South America and Australia.
The Smiling Stars Programme, organised by Shell, is an annual event that rewards Shell service station sales staff from around the world for exceptional performance. Shell believes that ‘people make the difference real’, hence the institution of the programme.
Famous Boateng began his career as a Pump Attendant at the Ashiaman Town Centre Shell service station and witnessed a remarkable progress through hard work, dedication and excellent customer service which endeared him to the hearts of his customers, supervisor and managers.
In a goodwill message from Shell Global, a representative of Shell Brand International, Annie Kennedy, expressed her excitement that someone from the African market has won the ultimate prize at the Smiling Stars event.
In a speech read on his behalf at the presentation ceremony, the Managing Director of Vivo Energy Ghana Mr. Ebenezer Faulkner expressed his admiration for Famous Boateng and his proactive initiatives aimed at ensuring customer satisfaction at all times.
“This award is the first of its kind in Africa and makes Ghana ultimately the best in customer service. I am very happy that you brought this honour to Ghana. It goes a long way to reaffirm our commitment to ensuring that the customer gets the best value at our service stations. I must congratulate you and your team for being the leaders in customer service in Ghana and the world at large,” he said.
Mr. Faulkner encouraged him to keep up the good work whilst assuring him of a good working environment that will propel his growth in the retail business.
The Retail Manager of Vivo Energy Ghana, Mr. Kwame Ackah was excited that the company’s focus on training and people’s development at the station level has paid-off through these awards.
The excited Famous Boateng showed his appreciation to the management of Vivo Energy Ghana, his managers and colleagues for their support and encouragement in all the initiatives that made him stand out at the awards ceremony.
“I am really excited about this feat. Management of Vivo Energy Ghana have been very supportive and helpful throughout my career. To be recognised by the company, shows the importance the company attaches to operational excellence,” he said.
Famous Boateng advised his colleagues to always put the customers first to ensure optimum customer satisfaction.
