Johannesburg - Waiting in agonisingly long queues at petrol stations to fill up your tank could very well be a thing of the past for South Africans, thanks to a new innovative game-changing e-hailing app.
The Fula Mobile App, which was recently launched in South Africa, is a convenient app that delivers fuel directly to your home, saving you the hassle of queueing up at petrol stations.
The e-hailing app, developed by Vosloorus born entrepreneur, Lubabalo Nojiwa, not only delivers fuel to your home but other necessities such as skincare, healthcare and food directly to your door from a garage or a store.
The app is currently available across Gauteng and can also be found in coastal areas across the country.
Nojiwa, a tech enthusiast, who’s developed well-known tech companies such as AJobsFind, Work Mobi, as well as Buzz Mobile, said the ability to deliver fuel to South Africans was what set his app apart from hundreds of other e-hailing apps in the country.
“We have petrol on-demand and other forecourt services at your fingertips, which are features that set this app apart from other apps,” Nojiwa told the Saturday Star this week.
“The motivation was to bring as much convenience to customers at any given time, particularly in the petrol or forecourt space.”
With a tap of a few buttons, South Africans can have fuel at the doorsteps within minutes, said Nojiwa.
“Customers are able to order fuel from any location and it can or will be brought to them. They are also able to buy the fuel at any service station and pick the self-pick-up option, so when they arrive at the station they just get their petrol and off they go without making manual payment, this saves time, especially on holiday season.”
Nojiwa said the app also allowed users to buy someone else fuel using the same parameters.
While one of Nojiwa’s main purposes for launching the app was to provide the ultimate convenience for users, he said the goal of creating jobs was just as important.
“This software was created to assist ordinary South Africans to get their local goods at their doorsteps but in doing so create jobs for drivers. The unemployment rate is at its peak. I hope to not only employ drivers but with expansion to grow the business by having call centre agents.”
Nojiwa estimates that more than 15 000 jobs can be created with the Fula app.
“We are building a base of operators that are independent and run different districts and distribution centers these link up with area marshals that make sure services are provided and also link to call centres.”
With the unemployment rate at its peak, Nojiwa said creating jobs has always been central to his thinking.
In the past, he also developed AJobsFind, which was a job search engine for employment-seeking individuals.
He also launched Work Mobi, a tech business that was linked with local radio stations and aimed to create jobs for unemployed people as it was advertising jobs.
Nojiwa, who grew up in Dobsonville, Soweto, said he was delighted by his latest venture.
The Fula app has been downloaded 5 000 times in the last five months since it's launch.
and, he says, the feedback has been positive.
“The app is fully functioning and it has taken good traction way past my expectations.
“You'll be surprised how many people buy kotas on a daily basis.”
Speaking about the development of the app, Nojiwa says it took around two years to develop the Fula app.
“The challenges that I have faced was the interpretation of ideas, time zones, as we used programmers from different countries.
“It took a year from start to finish, but the concept and data collection took another year as well. So all in all it took two years.
“It’s very tough building such an app because it has a lot of moving parts.
“It is really no child's play and extremely stressful, but fun.”
He says users will find the app fairly easy to use.
“App functions like any e-hailing app with similar features, but extremely different on the back end for outlets.
“Our Fula outlets and our partners are able to do their own accounts and track orders themselves and even assign drivers themselves.
“They also have full access to loading their own promotions and advertising on the app, they are also able to request and pay themselves whenever they want.”
Nojiwa said he has high hopes for mobile app.
“I am hoping to achieve great things with this platform such as employment opportunities as South Africa is one of the leading countries in unemployment and also to build a good foundation for young tech-enthusiasts.”