Folorunso: Our Challenges Positioned Us to Serve Customers Better

Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer of Fuelmetrics Limited, an innovative provider of automated technology solution for fuel management, Mr. Olayide Folorunso, speaks about the company’s ten years journey, including its low and high moments that positioned it to become resilient in growing customers’ businesses since inception. Emma Okonji presents the excerpts:

Fuelmetrics Limited has been in operation for the last ten years. Tell us about the high and low moments in your ten years journey?

Fuelmetris started business ten years ago with high expectations and with some high moments. Some of our most memorable high moments include the raising of our first investment capital and the development of our homegrown solution to address the identified gap at that time.

I remembered when we raised our first investment capital through an angel investment to pursue the business. Initially, what we had was just an idea, and then the development of our software solution. At that time we were able to raise $15,000 through angel investment in 2014, and we were smiling at that time because we saw it as huge investment capital. Another defining moment for us was when we successfully developed our proprietary automation hardware solution, called the E-pump, which stood out as a unique innovation compared to what was available in other markets at that time. It was a massive breakthrough for us because we had been doing research here and there, until we finally got it right. I think another high moment for us was when we signed up our first enterprise client, which we saw as a major milestone, because it validated our efforts and gave us the confidence to push forward. All these, including the constitution of our board members, were the defining moments for us and a step towards establishing a strong governance and strategic decision for the company.

Of course we had some low moments in our ten years journey, and I will speak to those challenges, which eventually strengthened us to become resilient to do more for our customers.
There were moments when we felt like we would not even take the business any further due to lack of funds. There were times that we encountered skeptics that doubted the viability of our solution. People told us things like ‘this solution cannot work in Nigeria and it will never work in the next 50 years.’ On top of that distraction, we faced situations where potential partners offered to help us on very strict condition that they would take up to 70 per cent ownership of the company. So, these were some of the challenges that we faced.

Tell us more about the focus of Fuelmetrics Limited, and what the company seeks to address?

Fuelmetrics Limited is a company that specialises in providing innovative solutions for energy management and monitoring. Our immediate focus of course is on fuel management. Our vision is to drive growth and efficiency for businesses in Africa and we are achieving this by providing innovative and affordable technology solutions to help businesses thrive. Basically we leverage advanced technology solutions, like data analytics and automation to offer tools to improve transparency, operational performance and cost effectiveness in energy usage, both on the operator’s side and on the consumers’ side. We are known for innovation and efficiency because we have brought significant innovation into this particular space which has made the businesses very efficient. Accountability is also something that we are known for. Our customer-centric approach is helping us to provide the desired solution for business growth, and more importantly is that we are empowering these businesses through data analytics.

The idea to start the company began with our co-founders, who were looking at technology adoption in fuel management. At that point, we began to get more interested in the technology space and we carried out research on how to build a small solution to offer the market that will solve the identified operational gap within that downstream oil and gas sector. At that time, Fuelmetrics identified that there was a gap in the gas and oil sector and then we developed a homegrown tech solution to fill that gap.

Fuelmetrics rapid growth since inception is of public interest. What is responsible for the rapid growth?

I think first and foremost, when we talk about growth, I must give credit to God for how he has continued to help us and guide us through our journey.
Additionally, I think that our growth has been inspired by our team of dedicated staff members that are passionate about the company. We have people who are very passionate about our company and they put in their best.
So their commitment and tireless efforts have been very instrumental to driving the success and expansion at Fuelmetrics. I think another significant factor in our success story is our customer-centric approach to business. So our primary focus has always been to add value to our clients, and in return, they have rewarded us with their unwavering loyalty because they believe in our solution.
So there’s mutual trust between us and our partners and this ensures that we retain our clients and we consistently grow and expand our reach within the business. I think all of these have accounted for our growth since inception till date.

What is your penetration level in Nigeria and across Africa in terms of enhancing the businesses of fuel stations?

So, in terms of our penetration level, we have made significant headway at least in Nigeria. We are currently present in over 2,000 fuel stations across Nigeria, and we are working with some of the biggest names within that industry, and all of these are testament to the viability of the E-Pump solution. Some of these operators would not want to do business with us if they felt that we don’t have any value to offer, because these are very serious-minded organisations that have the ability to get any kind of technology in the world that they would want.
So, if they opt for our E-Pump solution, it means that they are getting value from it. And like I said, we looked at the peculiarities of our environment to build this particular solution. So, of course, it’s been a good one for operators within the tech space. Aside Nigeria, we are also present in several African countries because we are African-focused business as it were. We have operations also in Nairobi, in Kenya, and also in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and we are also trying to expand our market into other areas, looking at some of our neighboring countries in West Africa and then even within the Eastern Central African markets also.

If you decide to assess your business performance after ten years of operation, what would you have done differently?

Looking back on our 10 years journey in the business, I think there’s always something to learn, and there’s always opportunity for improvement. However, every challenge that we have faced and every decision that we have made has helped to shape Fuelmetrics into what it is today. If we were to consider doing things differently, I think we may have focused earlier on building a stronger financial base to weather the initial stages of our growth.
There were times when it looked like the company was going to shut down because we didn’t have enough funds. I think there were also moments when the funding challenges caused some delays with the solution, and that naturally created some stress. So, if we had more foresight in that area, it could have made the journey smoother and a lot easier.
Additionally, one of the things I think we would have done is to have invested earlier in establishing a robust advisory board, and why I think so is that their insights and network would have propelled us forward and faster than eventually we did. The challenges that we faced, taught us resilience, creativity, and how to be resourceful with the little that we had.
I think that without those trials, we might not have gained the depths of experience and the strength that we now possess today, which in itself has formed some part of the culture of the organisation, and it has become an integral part of our identity today at Fuelmetrics, which repositioned us to serve customers better.

Having passed through some challenges in the past ten years, what were the lessons learnt?

I think that the first lesson learnt was never to underestimate your vision. I know I talked about resilience being a key thing, but the basic thing is never underestimate your vision. We had a vision of where we wanted the industry to go. In spite of the challenges and in spite of the critics that tried to discourage us from forging ahead, we just kept on going and see where we are today. Another lesson that I think that stood out for us is the teamwork. We have four co-founders that are still together today, and we have built the team from four to about 80. So, it’s teamwork. If you have a dedicated team of people that are passionate about the vision, they keep the business running because people are the lifeblood of any organisation.
We also learned about financial discipline. When you have little, you learn to manage the little with prudency. Relationships and networking were the other lessons that we also learnt.  

Can you expatiate on your flagship innovative tech solution called E-pump, and the benefits of the solution to the society?

So, E-Pump, like you have rightly said, is our flagship product, and it was designed to revolutionise fuel management and to address the critical challenges of inefficiency that plagued, generally, fuel distribution and retailing. The solution is a combination of proprietary hardware and software solution.
That’s what we call the E-Pump, which comes with advanced software and real-time monitoring software that controls fuel operations. So, the solution basically caters for fuel station owners or companies that offer this kind of service by offering tools to track fuel dispensing.
The solution has even grown to be able to serve customers who have some kind of products and then they want to be able to monitor those products, and that could include any organisation that has a small storage tank for fuel and then they want to monitor it. So, the solution prevents theft, fuel leakages, and inefficiencies. The E-Pump solution was born out of the need to solve the recurring challenges within the fuel management space in Nigeria and then to be able to create some level of transparency within that space.

How is the solution able to address challenges between fuel attendants who dispense fuel and the owners of the fuel business?
An automated management system like E-Pump is well-suited for Nigerian fuel stations for many reasons. The first is that it provides real-time data tracking. So, E-Pump provides real-time data tracking for fuel dispensing. It ensures that there’s accurate data on the fuel sold, as well as inventory, which will help to prevent some discrepancies and fraud. It also helps the operators to reduce human error, and this sometimes can be a new human error or an attempt to manipulate the system. E-Pump reduces the chance of error, because now we have, as it were, machines taking these values and taking these readings. So, there’s no space for human imputes or human calculation. We are certain that we are able to reduce the human error that is there. This of course helps the customer to have real value for their money.

What is the place of Nigeria in all the success stories of Feulmetrics?

Nigeria continues to play a pivotal role for business growth in Africa. Nigeria has supported the growth of many startups particularly when you look at the advent of tech startups in Nigeria.
So, for any operations, whether it is within Africa or let’s even say maybe it’s a global operation, Nigeria is not just a key market, but also a source of valuable insights and partnership because there are opportunities for business growth and expansion in Nigeria.

How will you describe the role of technology in the kind of service you offer and how are you leveraging emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) to further enhance your service offerings?

Technology is playing a vital role in driving businesses across all sectors of the economies. From some of the things I have said in the course of this interview, you can deduce that we are already looking at some of these emerging technologies. Incorporating AI and Machine Learning (ML) into fuel station management system like ours will definitely revolutionise our operations, because like I said, we’ll be able to provide predictive insights that will help in making business decisions. We are already using Internet of Things (IoTs) to control our operations.
So AI-powered predictive maintenance will be able to analyse data from our IoT sensors and identify potential equipment issues. So we can reduce unplanned downtime and optimise maintenance schedules for the operators. Then when we look at machine models, they can also be used to forecast oil demand, just by processing historical data, which we are already practicing.

ML models will also be able to look at weather patterns, look at market trends, and then be able to make some predictions to the customer in order to be able to stay competitive in the business.

All of these things would increase operational efficiency and also increase security and profitability for the business.