FuelAxFlow: building a fuel management system for Africa

In many forestry, mining and construction companies operating across sub-Saharan Africa, fuel accounts for 30 to 40% of operational costs. Yet most of them still manage it with spreadsheets — or no system at all. Machines consuming fuel with no record, invoices that don't add up, stock that disappears without explanation. That was the starting point for FuelAxFlow.

The real problem

I've spent years building software solutions for clients in Cameroon, Congo and Ivory Coast. In the forestry sector, fuel is a constant headache: multiple depots in remote locations, dozens of machines and drivers, suppliers invoicing in units other than litres, and very limited internet connectivity at the worksites. No off-the-shelf solution was adapted to this reality.

The technical solution

I built FuelAxFlow with Python / Django, a classic but solid web architecture that runs perfectly in on-premise environments. The application covers the full fuel cycle:

• Supplier orders with invoice workflow (order → reception → validation → payment)
• Real-time stock control by depot, with low-level alerts
• Detailed logging of each delivery by machine or driver, with meter index (km or hours)
• Inter-depot transfers and physical inventory adjustments
• Analytical allocation by cost centre and PDF / Excel export

The interface is built with Bootstrap 5 and HTMX for a smooth experience without a heavy JavaScript framework. The multi-depot, multi-country architecture allows managing operations across several countries simultaneously, with independent configurations per country.

A key design decision: on-premise

A fundamental design choice was to go on-premise rather than SaaS. In the forestry sector and certain industrial sectors, distrust of the cloud is real — IT departments prefer data to stay on their own servers, and intermittent connectivity at remote worksites makes depending on the internet an operational risk. FuelAxFlow installs directly on the client's server and runs on the local network.

Current status

The application is currently in pilot deployment at companies in Cameroon and Congo. A live demo is available at fuelaxflow.axxyss.com/fuelaxflow — contact me to receive login credentials.