Petrol Station Business Plan

Petrol Station Business Plan

Petrol Station Business Plan Overview

This Petrol Station Business Plan focuses on the business of retail in oil products largely petrol, diesel and related product at an independent level. Independent as opposed to franchise. An independent petrol station operates without the burdens of franchise in terms of branding, standards, targets, management and best practices. Franchised (or dependent) petrol stations are linked to the mother company which has a significant say in the look, pricing, margins and operations of the petrol station.

Franchises have traditionally been offered by large oil marketing companies (OMC). There are over 70 oil marketing companies. Of these ten or so dominate controlling almost 80 % of the market. These include Shell (Vivo Energy), Total, Kenol Kobil, Oil Libya and National Oil.

For long only the large OMC have been offering franchises but over a period of the last 15 years some companies which started as small independents have grown and are now able to offer franchises of their own.

Broadly the oil marketing business in Kenya has the Top Tier made of the large Oil Marketing Companies (referred as OMC which include Total, Shell – Vivo Energy, Kenol Kobil, Oil Libya, National Oil – owned by the government …) .

Medium Tier mostly made of the independents who have grown in size and statures; they run several stations either through franchises or on their own (Hashi, Delta, OilCom, Petro, Gulf and others).

Low Tier companies made of relatively small one or two branch stations constructed and run independently by their owners. These don’t have widely recognized brand names. Below these are the various one or two pump petrol stations often found in rural and peri urban areas.

The focus of this guide is the low tier independents. Low tier in this case does not imply unprofessionalism or “jua kali” rather it could be an entrepreneur who wants to start a single petrol station but professionally designed and run. Think of the many petrol stations not associated with any well known brand, and without any sister stations: The one town independent petrol stations.

A Brief on Franchises

To expand faster, penetrate some markets and manage costs, major OMC offer franchises commonly known as dealership. For instance a franchise could save a company the cost of acquiring its own land to build a petrol station. The alternative to a franchise is a company running a petrol station itself.

How a franchise is offered varies from one oil marketing company to another. But basically an oil marketing company will identify any area(s) they believe needs a first or just extra petrol station then make a call out in the media or on their websites listing the area and what they require of applicants before they offer the franchise. Interested entrepreneurs then apply, and one is selected and given the dealership.

The key considerations are ability to raise enough working capital, offer sound management, and sometimes acquire space to set up the petrol station. To help gauge this, an OMC might ask questions related to your education, work experience, business experience or even request bank statements.

The capital requirements are not standard and will often vary with the location. For instance the capital requirements for a petrol station in Nairobi CBD might be more than for one in Vihiga County. The nitty gritties thus are specific to the company and the location it’s offering the dealership.

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