Managing Director of Lesotho post Bank Molefi Leqhaoe
Bereng Mpaki
A MARKET-ORIENTED approach to business has earned Lesotho PostBank (LPB) an accolade for excellence in Lesotho’s financial services sector.
The wholly government-owned commercial bank won the Diamond Arrow Award from PMR Africa for Best Overall Achiever in Investment Services for 2016.
PMR Africa awards are annual regional awards that recognise excellence in companies or institutions which are evaluated against set criteria by respondents.
LPB Managing Director Molefi Leqhaoe told a media briefing yesterday the award was a clear testimony to the fact that the bank was responding well to the needs of customers.
He attributed their success to the customer and products-oriented strategies they had adopted, saying these had enabled them to understand the needs of the market.
“Our approach is a very simple customer-centric and relationship-centric approach to business. We believe this is where the award came from,” Mr Leqhaoe said.
He said the uniqueness of their business strategy could be seen in the manner in which they attended to their clients as well as the type of solutions they offered to them.
The LPB boss said they had made it more affordable and easier for Basotho to obtain loans.
He said they did not enter on their own but had been nominated to participate in the competition and that made the win “even more meaningful to us”.
Mr Leqhaoe said 2016 had been a “tremendous year” as they had also received another award from the Lesotho National Development Corporation (LNDC) for the Most Promising Bank.
The award was given in recognition of the good performance in giving out business loans through the Partial Credit Guarantee Scheme (PCGS) – a collaborative intervention with the LNDC for access to finance.
“We were also the most promising because the number of Basotho who acquired benefits from us topped those from other banks although we joined the PCGS agreement later than the rest,” he said.
He said as part of its quest to improve service delivery, LPB would relocate its head offices to bigger premises at house Mafike House.
The bank was also in the process of upgrading its core banking system to introduce the most sophisticated system.
“We are therefore looking forward to getting more accolades in future as a result of the new strategies that we are implementing to better understand the needs and requirements of Basotho,” he said.
Established by government in 2004, LPB has 14 branches countrywide. Three of these are in Maseru and others are in Machache, Semonkong, Maputsoe, Hlotse, Pitseng, Mapholaneng, Mafeteng, Thaba Tseka, Katse, Quthing, Mount Moorosi and Qacha’s Nek.
