---

OW Bunker, one of the world’s largest suppliers and traders of marine fuel, has announced that ten of the original recruits from its two-year management education programme would be graduating in September 2008.

The programme was established in 2006 in order to create new benchmarks for excellence within the whole of the Wrist Group, and to develop universal management and leadership skills that can be utilised by the organisation as it meets its global expansion and growth plans.

OW Bunker said a further 60 people will be graduating from the programme over the next year.

Marianne Schrøder, HR Director, OW Bunker (Wrist Group), commented: “Success in this industry is based on having the right people to lead your business; people with the ability to deliver against the company’s strategic objectives, as well as the visionary quality and understanding of what it takes to drive progression in a continually changing market.

“The intensity of this programme provides those that graduate with all the right skills to achieve this, and it ensures that OW Bunker and the Wrist Group have real strength in depth on a global basis, and a management team of future leaders that will help to drive the ambitious growth plans of the business,” Schrøder added.

OW Bunker said the education programme had provided all of the graduates with a thorough insight into management and leadership tools, strategic performance, finance, market economics, system tuition, risk management, as well as an "in depth education on the OW Bunker brand, its values and its position within the market".

The programme was also said to be based on understanding the psychology of leadership and the skill sets that are required to become an effective manager in a global organisation.

Following a ceremony in Aalborg, where each graduate will be presented with a diploma by Jim Pedersen, chief executive of OW Bunker, they will return to office locations around the world, which include South Africa, Greece, Singapore and the UK.