Close to three decades with MRDC
Kilangit Sapulai is close clocking three decades of service with the Mineral Resources Development Company (MRDC).
Hailing from Central and Manus, Kilangit is only one of two within MRDC that has worked for this long with the company having first joined in 1996 as an administration officer.
Like many within the company, Kilangit has transitioned roles over the years to his current position as senior treasury officer.
He has seen it all, the changes from where the company was to where it is now, a partner in nation building.
Coming up on his 29th year with the company in December, Kilangit says he has managed to stay this long because of the progressive career pathway his journeyed through from joining the company straight after completing his grade 12 to having been sent overseas for studies and coming back to assuming his role as a treasury officer.
“I am currently a senior treasury officer looking after the MRDC Group’s treasury and all the funds and where they sit in different accounts and funding for various projects and plans we have every year,” Kilangit explained his role.
“When I was first employed in 1996, I was an administration officer, and after six years, I was sent to study abroad. And so upon my return, I got a promotion to became a treasury officer in 2006.
“I’ve also gone into other roles as well, commodity administrator and so forth, and the current one being senior treasury officer.”
Kilangit said some of his proudest moments that contribute to his achievements and highlights over the years is being involved in the distribution process of project beneficiary benefits and seeing the smiles on the peoples faces when they receive their benefits.
Contrasting between the early years and today, Kilangit said MRDC has grown exponentially from staff numbers, the number of subsidiaries it manages, the technology that is being used, management changes to now an organization positioned for growth.
Being part of a company looking after beneficiary interests, Kilangit has seen firsthand some of the major projects and investments the company has done for its project beneficiaries. Projects such as the Star Mountain Plaza where the Hilton Hotel and Residence sit. “Those are some of the major projects I’ve seen, personally, that have happened,” Kilangit said.
“One of the other things I like is MRDC’s mandate, we are managed by the Oil and Gas Act, we manage two requirements, future generation trusts, and community infrastructure trust funds. These are specifically for the beneficiaries of all the projects, from the gold to the oil to gas because they all come under the Oil and Gas Act.
“And so you will, or may have had, or seen, schools and aid posts and developments happening in the communities in the project areas.
“That’s one of the things I’ve seen in the last two decades of my employment here, which has brought life into what MRDC’s mandate was to do, manage landowners’ interests.”
KIlangit has also seen many staff come and go and to the new staff coming in, he tries to encourage them to grasp the role that the company plays.
“Currently the company has embarked on a very strategic role in employing and improving the systems we have in our finance section, so it’s looking good.
“So in a way, I’m not just one person trying to remember all the other accounts, or numbers and things like that. We have several accountants dedicated to various companies, and that’s one of the improvements and things that’s going on right now.”
Highlighting the company’s 50th anniversary this year having being incorporated in May 27th, 1975, Kilangit said: “I’m reaching my 29 years in December, and I look at the future and I see the restructuring and the plans that the organisation has.
“It will be here for the next 50 years or so, as technology is improving, and there are better ways of managing businesses and serving our local beneficiaries as well.
“We should be in good stead. And all because, I’ll re-emphasize again, we have great stability in leadership, and we’ve come this far.”
