The finalists in the 2012 SFA National Small Business Awards included a company set up by a Nigerian immigrant.
On-Site Refuelling was shortlisted in the outstanding small business (up to five employees) category.
Founder and CEO Adeola Ogunsina said the company was established in 2008 to fill a gap that has existed in the transport industry.
“The main thing we do is fuelling fleet trucks when they are not in use,” he said. “The concept was simple: reduce operational costs by bringing the fuel to the truck instead of the truck to the fuel.”
So far, Ogunsina – who previously managed a number of Shell petrol stations he franchised in the Dublin area – said his company has been both innovative and saving costs for others.
“The fuel industry is not a place of end-user innovation. Sure, there’s lots of innovation in exploration, extraction and refining, but at the user end of the business, there’s been little change since the invention of the fuel pump.”
He said lack of innovation in the use of fuel costs so much money to companies with fleet of vehicles and that this is gradually changing with the advent of his company as it helps others to achieve effective fuel management.
“Businesses pay for thousands of hours of extra labour, administration, overhead, running time, maintenance and insurance and get nothing in return,” he said. “The conventional way of getting fuel is inefficient, wasteful and much more costly than the posted price at the service station pump. And it has nothing to do with tax.
“According to the industry average, it takes 20 minutes for a vehicle to fuel. This includes the time to travel to a filling station, fill up the tank and return to work. That’s 20 minutes for every vehicle, everyday and it adds up to thousands of hours every year.”
As an example, Ogunsina described how a fleet of just 30 loses over 2,600 hours a year just getting fuel.
“That’s the equivalent of over 100 unproductive days in a year,” he said. “On-Site Refuelling provides high quality diesel fuel delivered directly to fleet trucks’ fuel tanks, at their business premises, when the fleet is parked. Costly driver time spent refuelling is eliminated.”
Ogunsina said fleet operators using his services are also immediately reducing their carbon footprint.
“With one truck fuelling many, on-site delivery of fuel direct to fleet greatly reduces environmental risk and increases fleet productivity, saving time and money while lowering fleet emissions.”
He added: “Green haulage is efficient haulage. That is a message which is good for society, good for fleet operators and good for their customers.”
