Engen – one of the fastest-growing petroleum products and convenience marketers in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands – will use 2013 to drive growth for its cashless fleet payment solution, known as the 1-Card, in Mauritius. The company, which has operations in 19 countries in the region,  looks back on two years of good growth of the 1-Card, during which it launched the payment solution in Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia, Gabon, Mauritius and Reunion. Plans for 2013 include launching the 1-Card solution in Mozambique and Burundi while continuing to drive return on investment in the 6 countries where it has a footprint, says Jazmyne Yarlett, Project Office Manager for Engen’s International Business Division.

Benefits
“The 1-Card offers all the safety, security and convenience of cashless payment,” says Yarlett. “Administered by Engen, it costs a fraction of bank-issued cards, and can be rolled out in countries where, until now, poor telecoms and banking infrastructure have thwarted online or bank card solutions.”

Peace of mind
“Most importantly, 1-Card is safe and convenient, as drivers and pump attendants no longer have to handle cash,” she says. “In addition, we issue unique PIN numbers for every card, in sealed envelopes. This renders the card useless when it falls into the wrong hands. Strong data protection technologies prevent theft of customer or card information.” A vehicle identification tag further assures fleet managers of its proper intended use. Associated with a specific card, the tag is permanently affixed to fleet vehicles’ windscreens, which are scanned during transactions. “There is no fail-safe method of preventing fuel theft, but these features give our customers unprecedented peace of mind,” says Yarlett.

Control
She adds that 1-Card offers much improved control over fleet expenses, as fleet managers can determine where and when it can be used, and what products can be paid for with it. Fleet-operating businesses can also receive monthly itemised bills.

Offline
To accommodate off-line functioning, 1-Card servers contact accepting sites twice a day. To further accommodate potential unreliable telecommunications, Engen offers a range of limit schemes on the chip-based cards. “It cuts out having to re-load cards, which can be tricky if telecommunications are unreliable,” says Yarlett. “It means drivers can be served even if lines to the computer at head office go down. All the information needed to authorise a payment are stored on the card and the point-of-sale terminal.”

Savings
Besides the relatively low cost of the service compared to banking products, Yarlett says petrol companies can claim savings due to the reduction of fraud. Another great saver is in administrative time. “There is some admin overhead, but a big toil factor is removed by getting rid of paper processes. As a result we are able to offer the service at very competitive rates compared to a banking solution,” says Yarlett.