Tom Daglish, Territory Sales Manager, Frucor Suntory and the second winner of the 2020 Peter Jowett Scholarship, shares his ideas on the revolution of the service station industry.
C&I: How did it feel to be named the second winner in the Peter Jowett Scholarship in 2020?
DAGLISH: It was quite surreal, to be honest. There was a lot of hard work put in throughout the year. It was quite humbling to be recognised for coming up with an idea and being able to present that. It means a lot, not just for being runner-up but also for my own personal development. One thing I really wanted to work on this year within my job was presenting in front of audiences and people. I thought that the next step in my career was to get more exposure in that sort of sense. So, it was awesome to have the opportunity to do that and then to become runner up was the cherry on top.
C&I: Can you tell us about your Peter Jowett submission concept?
DAGLISH: Essentially, my concept was around what the service station industry could do to remain viable in the future market. I focused on three big pillars, which were firstly, sustainability within our environment. It’s not just a hot topic, but it’s the future, and it’s now that we need to be really thinking about it.
The next pillar was health and wellbeing, which is quite a big part of my life, so I wanted to be able to help others with that as well. Then also driving electric vehicles, which are the thing of the future, so I wanted to tailor my idea around those key pillars.
The whole idea was essentially a gym built onto the second story of a service station where people could park their electric vehicles and charge them for half an hour to 45 minutes and they could go to the gym while they waited for their vehicle to charge. So, it becomes this hub and a destination rather than a quick five minutes stop off at the service station.
The big draw card about the idea was that the gym equipment, and anything that requires kinetic energy, would help generate electricity that then goes back into the charging vehicle. And people would be rewarded for the amount of electricity they created, so the more they use the gym, the more rewards they would receive in terms of savings off fuel or potentially savings within the store. In a nutshell, the whole idea was around focusing on sustainability, but also rewarding customers for using the gym. I talked about it being a revolution of the service station industry.
C&I: Why is the Peter Jowett Scholarship so important to the industry?
DAGLISH: It’s important because it gives people like me the chance to have a voice. We’re encouraged to present an idea and come up with a concept to really feel like we can make a positive change to the sector. It’s a very important sector for the country’s economy and the scholarship is a good opportunity to hear how different people would change things if they were in power.
C&I: How do you see the convenience industry evolving?
DAGLISH: I can’t see too much changing over the next year, but certainly over the next 10 years I think we’ll definitely see a lot more in the way of sustainability. There will be more environmentally friendly offers and recyclable packaging, and all of those things that are coming to the fore now.
C&I: What are you most looking forward to over the next 12 months?
DAGLISH: Definitely playing a bit of cricket and seeing more live sport. But on a professional level, I’ll be looking to build on what I accomplished last year and take as many opportunities as I can to learn and to lead. People is where it’s at for me, I like managing people and helping people, so I’m hoping for the opportunity to move into more of a leadership position this year. And I think Peter Jowett was a really great steppingstone for me to showcase who I am and what I’m capable of.
