Founder Friday: Calculate Fuel

Some business problems can be solved with better planning. Others become obvious only when you are paying for the fuel, driving the route and trying to work out whether the trip will make money. For Kenyan entrepreneur Kevin Kihara, that problem developed through his own experience as a driver. Calculating fuel requirements and costs on unfamiliar journeys could be difficult and inaccurate. 

Those daily challenges led him to ask whether artificial intelligence could make fuel planning more efficient. The result was Calculate Fuel, an AI-powered platform designed to help drivers and businesses estimate fuel requirements and trip costs.
Kevin had already developed an interest in technology before building the platform. He has worked in artificial intelligence since 2019 and has been involved in training AI models, including ChatGPT and Gemini. His experience with AI gave him the foundation to apply the technology to problems he encountered in his own work.

Driving provided a practical starting point. Kevin is a driver and also owns small Uber vehicles rented to other drivers. Road trips and unfamiliar routes meant he regularly had to calculate how much fuel would be needed. He also had to determine whether the income from a trip would cover the costs.
“I usually go to places I've never been. I go on road trips,” Kevin said. “I would get losses and I would also miscalculate the fuel that I will need when travelling.”
That experience became the foundation for Calculate Fuel.

From a Personal Problem to a Working Product

Kevin initially built Calculate Fuel to solve a problem he was experiencing himself. It soon became clear that other drivers faced the same challenge. Uber drivers became an important early user group, giving him an opportunity to test the platform with people making similar fuel and cost decisions.
The platform now attracts hundreds of daily users in Kenya. Kevin said drivers have reported positive results, using the system to compare expected fuel costs with their earnings.
Calculate Fuel uses around six APIs, including access to live government fuel prices. This allows the platform to update calculations when prices change and provide users with a current estimate of journey costs.
Customer feedback has also become part of the development process. Positive results show where the platform is working, while requests and complaints help identify what needs to improve.

Moving Into Logistics

The transition from individual drivers to business customers showed Kevin that the same fuel-planning problem could apply to larger operations.
One company now using Calculate Fuel is KTS Mobility in Cameroon. The logistics company is using the platform for its operations, giving Kevin exposure to requirements that were less prominent among Kenyan users.
Currency conversion became one issue. The Cameroon customer wanted calculations displayed in the local currency. Location accuracy was another challenge. The mapping system can identify towns and smaller villages, but does not always provide exact buildings or destinations.
Those requirements are being incorporated into Calculate Fuel 1.3. The next version is expected to improve location accuracy and the platform's AI capabilities.
For Kevin, the experience has reinforced the importance of building around customer needs.
“I build them around the needs of the clients, not what I want,” he said. “I listen to what the client needs and it's through the client needs that it helps me shape the product to be more efficient for them.”

Building a B2B Opportunity

The move into business customers has also been influenced by Kevin's work on Katibu, an AI-powered ERP and CRM platform that includes logistics modules.
Some Katibu customers already use its logistics functions. This gives Kevin a direct view of the challenges businesses face when managing vehicles, employees and operating costs.
The plan is to integrate Calculate Fuel into Katibu. Logistics customers would then be able to access fuel calculations as part of their existing operations.
The potential applications extend beyond logistics. Businesses that send employees to different towns need to calculate travel costs and reimburse fuel expenses. Companies operating fleets also need to understand how fuel consumption affects operating costs.
Kevin also sees mining as a potential market, particularly for smaller operators looking for ways to manage fuel expenses.
Calculate Fuel is also being developed as an API service. Businesses will be able to embed its fuel-calculation functionality into their own websites and applications.

From Fuel to Energy

Kevin's plans are expanding beyond petrol and diesel. Calculate Fuel 1.3 will include calculations for electric vehicles and electric bikes based on kilowatt-hour consumption.
The system will estimate the electricity required for a journey and the associated charging cost. Hybrid vehicles are being considered for future development, while battery-swapping systems have not yet been incorporated.
The longer-term plan is to develop Calculate Power as a sister company focused on energy calculations. This would extend the technology from fuel planning into the wider energy requirements of vehicles.

Taking the Technology Into Vehicles

Kevin's longer-term vision goes beyond a mobile or web application. He wants Calculate Fuel's intelligence to eventually be integrated into vehicle hardware and trip-management systems as connected and autonomous vehicles become more common.
His thinking is influenced by aircraft flight-management systems. These systems process information needed to manage a journey. Kevin sees a similar opportunity for vehicles.
A future vehicle could determine where it needs to go, estimate the energy required and calculate the associated cost. Those calculations could happen in the background without requiring the driver to work them out manually.
Kevin has also trained autonomous vehicle AI models. That experience has strengthened his interest in bringing Calculate Fuel into vehicle systems.

Learning From the Market

Building Calculate Fuel has changed Kevin's understanding of entrepreneurship. When he first developed the product, he was uncertain about who would use it and whether there would be enough demand.
Customer adoption gradually answered those questions. It showed him that the opportunity extended beyond the problem he had originally set out to solve.

He also learned that an MVP is only the beginning of the development process. Testing, customer feedback and repeated improvements are needed before a product becomes mature.
The experience has made Kevin more patient and more willing to acknowledge what he does not know. He now places greater emphasis on listening to customers and using their feedback to determine what the product needs next.
That philosophy has also influenced his view of AI. Working on Katibu and Calculate Fuel has made him more positive about the technology. He believes entrepreneurs need to develop their AI skills as the technology becomes more widely used.

Preparing for Growth

Calculate Fuel currently has a two-person team. Kevin handles much of the business and customer-facing work, while his partner, Matia, is primarily responsible for development.
The company is preparing to raise approximately US$100,000 in pre-seed funding. Most of the funding will go towards improving the product and taking it further into production. Some of the capital will also support marketing.
The company has already tested direct sales. In July, Kevin and his team approached Uber drivers directly and built relationships that continue to provide customer feedback.
The company also receives feedback through its website, email, LinkedIn and social media.

International expansion is another possibility. Kevin has been engaging with the Italian Trade Agency around a potential expansion into Italy. European markets bring additional legal and compliance requirements that the company must address.

Kevin's Advice to Young Entrepreneurs

Kevin's experience has changed how he thinks about identifying opportunities. He began with a problem he understood personally, built a solution and then allowed customers to show him where the product could go.
That process taught him that finding a gap in the market is not enough. Entrepreneurs need to determine whether there is a real market for the solution before committing to growth.
“People usually say there's a gap in the market,” Kevin said. “They need to ask themselves, is there a market in the gap?”
For Kevin, that question remains central to the Calculate Fuel journey. What started as a personal fuel-planning problem has developed into a technology business serving drivers and logistics companies, with potential applications in industries such as mining and a longer-term ambition to put its intelligence inside vehicles.