DI-Africa Review

SLB as a Client -- What Institutional Vendor Qualification Means for Buyers

SLB (formerly Schlumberger) is the world's largest oilfield services company -- USD 36+ billion annual revenue, 100,000+ employees globally, operations in 120+ countries. SLB's vendor qualification process for HR and EOR service providers in Africa requires: legal entity registration in each operating country (not partner-network coverage); ISO certification or equivalent quality management documentation; HSE compliance records and safety statistics; local regulatory registration (social security, tax authority, Ministry of Labour) in each country; insurance certificates including employer liability and public liability; demonstrated payroll and EOR delivery references with comparable-scale clients; and anti-bribery/anti-corruption (FCPA/UK Bribery Act) compliance certification. DI-Africa has passed and maintained SLB vendor qualification -- a process that eliminates the vast majority of African HR boutiques that cannot meet these institutional standards. For Compareor buyers who need African EOR for operations adjacent to or within SLB project frameworks (common in Congo, Gabon, and Mozambique), DI-Africa's SLB-qualified vendor status means it can be onboarded quickly within SLB-managed project supply chains. The same institutional validation applies to TechnipFMC (subsea and process technology), ENI (Italian O&G major), Perenco (French independent O&G), Petronas (Malaysian national O&G), and CNOOC (Chinese national O&G) -- all of which have independent and demanding vendor qualification processes that DI-Africa has also passed simultaneously.

EVASAN -- The African O&G and Mining Deployment Requirement

EVASAN (Evacuation Sanitaire, or medical evacuation insurance) is one of the most operationally critical and least-documented aspects of international employee deployment to remote oil & gas and mining sites in Africa -- and DI-Africa is the only provider in this audit series to explicitly manage it as a named service. The practical requirement: any company deploying international technical staff to offshore platforms in Gabon (Rabi, Tchatamba, Lucina fields), onshore sites in Congo Basin, remote mining operations in Madagascar or Mozambique, or construction camps in West Africa must provide EVASAN coverage as part of the employment package. EVASAN covers: emergency medical evacuation by air ambulance from remote sites to the nearest appropriate medical facility; repatriation to the employee's home country for severe medical emergencies; 24/7 medical assistance hotlines in French and English; and in some policies, in-country hospitalisation coverage for locations where adequate local medical facilities do not exist. The cost: EVASAN insurance typically ranges from $500-2,000/year per person depending on destination risk level and policy coverage (Gabon and Congo offshore are classified as medium-high risk; Madagascar remote sites are medium risk). For international technical staff on two-year Congo or Gabon contracts, EVASAN is not optional -- it is a contractual requirement imposed by the operating oil company (ENI, Perenco, CNOOC), and failure to provide it constitutes a breach of the employment or service agreement. DI-Africa's management of EVASAN as Step 3 of its 6-step international mobility process -- before local contract validation, before social security registration, before tax identification -- reflects accurate understanding of the deployment priority sequence for African O&G sites.

OHADA Labour Law -- Why Francophone Africa Requires a Specialist

OHADA (Organisation pour l'Harmonisation en Afrique du Droit des Affaires) is a supranational business law framework covering 17 African countries including Congo, Gabon, Cote d'Ivoire, Madagascar, and Cameroon. OHADA provides a harmonised framework for commercial and business law, but each member state retains its own Labour Code that operates independently of OHADA's commercial law harmonisation. The practical result: Congo, Gabon, Cote d'Ivoire, and Madagascar each have distinct Labour Codes with different statutory contribution rates, different probationary period rules, different termination notice periods, and different collective agreement frameworks -- all within the broader OHADA jurisdiction. Key country-specific examples: Gabon Labour Code requires a CNSS employer contribution of approximately 20.1% of gross salary (one of the highest in Francophone Africa); Congo Labour Code requires a formal administrative validation process for employment contracts by the Labour Inspectorate before the contract is legally binding (Step 4 of DI-Africa's 6-step process); Madagascar has a distinct dual-track employment system for Madagascar nationals vs. expatriates with different social security frameworks (CNaPS vs. international health insurance); Mozambique (OHADA-adjacent but not a member) has INSS contributions (employer 4% + employee 3%) and specific local content requirements under the Mozambican Petroleum Law and Mining Law. DI-Africa's direct offices in all four of the OHADA primary markets it serves -- rather than cross-border coverage from Mauritius -- means the Labour Inspectorate relationships, CNSS registration processes, and government tax authority relationships are managed by in-country staff who interact with these authorities daily.