Starting a small business in South Africa is tough, particularly in an economy that is growing at 1% or less each year. The latest SACCI Small Business Growth Index report for the first half of 2025 showed that only one in four small businesses is growing and one in ten faces potential closure.
Despite the difficulties, there are still opportunities. One of the best ways for aspiring entrepreneurs to get started and hone their business skills is through operating or owning a fuel retail outlet. Fuel is indispensable to grow the South African economy, and there’s strong competition among industry players for market share. Fuel retailers are pursuing a range of initiatives, such as expanding the number and size of forecourts in high-traffic areas, with a particular emphasis on transforming historically skewed patterns of ownership.
While the local fuel retail sector has become more competitive in recent years, bpSA has managed to maintain our market share in this tough environment. In the wake of the group’s announcements that we intend to continue to make investments in this country, we will be prioritising the development of new sites alongside growth areas, such as high-volume highways and junction sites, especially in formerly underserved areas.
bpSA’s market share growth has been achieved partly through the strength of our brand – we have had a presence in SA for over 100 years – and partly by continuously introducing new initiatives such as the bpRewards loyalty programme. BpRewards attracted almost a million members in its first year, ensuring repeat visits by customers and providing useful data insights.
With this support, new bpSA fuel station owners are entering a growing market under the umbrella of a strong brand and structure.
Transformation goals
One of the reasons that many entrepreneurs in South Africa are struggling is that they face challenges in obtaining the necessary support, Small Business Development Minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams said in a speech in eThekwini last year. They need “access to funding, business development support, information, market access and procurement opportunities,” she said.
bpSA is aware of these challenges, and we address them in our strategy to grow our forecourts. We have a multi-pronged strategy to grow the number of black-owned partners that support our business, including ensuring that the racial mix of our service station owners more closely correlates to South Africa’s demographics.
bpSA’s goal of transforming the ownership of its dealer-owned forecourts, which at this point are 62% Black owned, has been made possible by a co-operation agreement between bpSA and the National Empowerment Fund. Recently, it entered into another partnership, with the Small Enterprise Development & Finance Agency (SEDFA). These intentional transformation initiatives, implemented for over 12 years, are designed to provide affordable finance to empower black-owned businesses to acquire and operate service stations and related forecourt businesses. The bpSA portion of the funding does not burden the beneficiary with interest as it is a zero-based loan. The partnership also provides the beneficiary with pre- and post-investment support that helps to ensure the success of the business.
Starting from the ground up
The backbone of the bpSA forecourts is our service champions, many of whom have aspirations to further their careers in the fuel industry. Recognising this, bpSA recently launched the Impumelelo Bursary Programme to help our service champions pursue further education. The bursary was opened up to applicants who had already registered in tertiary institutions for any course of study, which underscores their determination to better themselves.
This year, bpSA awarded 32 bursaries to our service champions, covering a wide range of fields of study. Recipients, aged up to 41 years, are enrolled at universities and TVET colleges across South Africa. In addition, bpSA supports our own employees to further their studies.
By contributing towards career advancement for our staff, bpSA is making education more accessible and achievable and simultaneously investing in the future of South Africa.
Driving transformation at every level
“bpSA has made great strides in terms of driving transformation, but we know there’s still more to be done,” said bpSA CEO Taelo Mojapelo. “We are focused on building a solid pipeline of diverse talent, including strong women representation. Inclusion of women within our supply chain remains a focus area, and we are continuously intensifying our efforts to ensure we maintain our market-leading position on diversity.
“As we continue to take intentional steps to create opportunities for under-represented groups, I look forward to a future where the energy sector has a rich resource of female talent and leadership from all walks of life.”
bpSA’s efforts resonate with government’s efforts to broaden economic inclusion. At this year’s Black Business Council gala dinner, President Cyril Ramaphosa said: “We must recognise that economic empowerment is an undertaking that requires deliberate action across nearly every area of our national life. It is not limited to a few laws, policies and regulations.”
Through its practical actions to educate, recruit and finance the next generation of South Africa’s entrepreneurs, bpSA is demonstrating its commitment to continue investing and growing in South Africa for the long term.