About Us

Sai Management & Investments Limited was founded in 1991. The company’s line of business includes selling gasoline and lubricating oils.

The Achary family business took off after Sam Achary (Founder of Sai Management & Investments Limited) responded to an ad in the local paper for a forecourt attendant at the Balmoral Mobil site. To show how willing he was, he worked on the forecourt while waiting for an interview. Within a couple of years he was appointed manager, was transferred to another Mobil station, and in 1989 was awarded Mobil Station Manager of the Year.

In 1990 service stations had been deregulated, and a few years later Mobil started leasing out stations and we took on one in Onehunga.” Sam borrowed $30,000 from friends to get into the station, so he and his son Sunil (then 21 years old) worked without wages for six months to pay back the loan. The business grew from there. In 1992 Sam took on Mobil’s Neilson Street site and in 1995 added Mobil Clendon and now run 13 sites from Dargaville to Matamata. Most are in Auckland though.” The sites are all leased, except for Matamata, which they own as independent operators. Mobil moved out of the retail side of its business in 2013, which also opened more opportunities for companies such as SAI Group.

The company employs over 120 people, seven of them in the main office in Wiri, including Sunil’s wife Irene. “We have several who have been with us for 10 or more years and one person has been with us for 20 years. That’s saying something for a sector that is known for its high staff turnover. Part of their recipe for success has been to train their own managers. “Everyone starts out on the forecourt and in the shop. Those who want to do more, we train into assistant manager and then manager“. Sunil says they are particularly careful about who is offered a manager role in service stations outside Auckland.

“It’s important in small towns that people understand the local culture and want to become part of the community.”

Our team