CEO of RUBIS Caribbean, Mauricio Nicholls, has said the US$ 600,000 pumped into its Dominica investment will add a fresher and more appealing look to six out of nine service stations acquired by the company.
Rebranded fuel dispensers, new air pumps, upgraded forecourt lighting, new canopy design and a pleasing uniform for staff is said to be a worthy investment that will totally transform the stations from captain down to cook.
“And we are sure that it will pay off because customers really like it and when they like our brand, we will start seeing positive movements in the volumes at our service stations, we will see a return in investment,” Nicholls said at the press conference held at the Fort Young Hotel on Thursday.
Nicholls described the investment in Dominica as substantial but important.
“We took our time because we wanted to have the right amount of financial and human resources,” he stated. “So it’s really quite successful to give birth to a brand across the Caribbean and here in Dominica and hopefully in one year, two years, it will become the iconic preferred fuel brand.”
He noted that it was a bit difficult in Dominica because material, which could not be sourced locally, had to be imported.
Additionally some of the sites were expensive, since they needed structural repairs.
He pointed out having the Rubis brand was the right thing to do.
“We have close to 200 service stations in the Caribbean and when we acquired these businesses, we basically had two major brands,” he explained. “So they were operating here under the Shell brand, or under the Texaco brand. But we truly believe that having our own brand is really the right way and the right decision for the company … after we completed the acquisition, we engaged in our rebranding process to eventually get to all markets.”
Meantime, Country Representative Nicholson Dodds mentioned that the company will soon be installing a much needed roof for a Pre-School in Wesley.
“The children are sitting in a classroom, imagine with this hot sun with no ceiling, exposed rafters and galvanize, you know how uncomfortable that can be …no ceiling fans, no air condition,” he said. “We at Rubis undertook to have the ceiling installed and also our employees are going to get into that project, we hope to execute within the next few weeks. So that is one of the immediate projects that we are undertaking, and we see it very important as a social partner.”
The value of that project is estimated at about $3,000.
The company also launched a new line of lubricants, Total, and a brand new fuel additive, Ultra Tec.
RUBIS (as in the gem Ruby or Rubies) is an established French based international private limited company. It was founded in 1990 and specializes in the downstream petroleum and chemicals sector, operating bulk liquid storage facilities for petroleum products and chemicals.
The company operates in 16 territories namely, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Dominica, French Guiana, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Trinidad and Tobago and Turks and Caicos.
It manages a network of 230 service stations in the region and employs over 350 people, with a total of nine in Dominica.
The re-branding across the Caribbean began a year and a half ago.
