How to Lease/Rent Existing Petrol Station In Tanzania and Africa

   

Many entrepreneurs want to own and run petrol stations but want to avoid the hard work, uncertainty, and risk associated with building new petrol stations from scratch. 

Many entrepreneurs would like to expand via leasing or renting existing petrol stations(It is usually easy to buy customers than it is to win them over)

But knowing how to find a petrol station for a lease, how to locate and work with brokers with specific questions to ask the existing petrol station owners, and how to evaluate and perform due diligence is vital to ensure the long-term success of your business.

Here are critical strategies to learn when leasing petrol stations in Tanzania and Afric

1. Asses location. The key determinant to whether the future success or failure of the petrol station business is location.

The most common misconception we observe is that because your petrol site is on a busy road or populated area is appropriate for operating a profitable petrol station. The simple reality is that motorists and consumers can pay more to avoid turning into a petrol station, which makes entering or exiting difficult.

So before renting or buying a petrol station, you need to assess how easy it is for motorists and consumers to enter and leave the sites. How is the site accessible from the main road?

You must ensure that your site allows access via roadways and frontage. The location must have easy in and out access. Also, your site must be located at an optimum distance, enabling motorists driving at average speed to have enough time to make buying decisions, slow down their vehicle, and enter your station safely.

If there is a problem with access and visibility, determine what you can do to improve access to the site. In addition,

it is crucial to understand who your closest competitor is in your trading areas and identify their strength and weakness and what volume they are achieving.

If other petrol stations exist in the same trade area, Identify their strength, weakness, and what volume they are achieving. You may also need to identify the competitive advantage your new site could gain on its fuel volume.

.2. Asses the profitability of the business.

You are going into the petrol station business not only because you are passionate about this business but also because you want to make money. So, you should see if you would generate a good return on your investment.

3.Find the reasons for selling or renting the petrol station.

Only a few petrol station owners will tell you why they sell their stations. Your job is to find out why they are selling or renting. This will lead you in the right direction and guide you to success in your petrol-filling business. You should avoid renting or buying a petrol station if you discover the owner is selling because the business is not doing well, because of the sanction from relevant authorities for not complying with guidelines, or because of debt and bankruptcy.

4. Check the owner’s license.

Be sure that the petrol station you intend to buy has all the required license and permit from EWURA, NEMC, and other authorities to do what it does. With the increasing number of petrol stations running without approval from EWURA, check a station’s license before closing the deal. It will help you a lot.

5.Know the owners.

Determine exactly who the owners of the petrol stations are. Otherwise, you will purchase, and later you’ll discover that a station is owned by someone else.