From boardroom to forecourt
5 August 2026
MISA, the Motor Industry Staff Association, kicks off the Union’s annual Women’s Month celebration with an MISATv interview featuring Cindy Ramokoto, a Chartered Accountant, who decided to buy her own two BP fuel stations in our male dominated industry.
The founder of AOTL Holdings story is one of courage and conviction. A former partner and chief risk officer at a major audit firm, she left the security of a corporate salary in 2015 to start her own business inspired by her late brother, who believed in her ambition. Today she employs around 200 people, each of whom supports a household of six to eight family members.
Running a fuel station is not for the faint-hearted. It is a high-revenue, low-margin business, made harder by fixed and regulated retail margins and by fuel prices that swing with global events such as the conflict in Iran.
"There is only so much consumers can spend on fuel. So we saw the dive in litres and sales in the shop. The increase in fuel affects the cost of food and everything in the store. We are feeling the impact of it right now,” says Ramokoto.
As a Black woman in this space, she has also had to overcome those who see her gender before her leadership, robberies and the steep climb of accessing finance. Yet she soldiers on with discipline, presence and determination. “Dreams are free, but you must see them through.”
"Ramokoto represents the very best of South African enterprise. She has turned world-class skills into jobs for 200 families and proofed that women belong in every corner of this industry, including behind the till and on the forecourt. This Women's Month, we celebrate her and we encourage young women to follow her lead,” says Martlé Keyter, MISA’s Chief Executive Officer: Operations.
MISA TV will continue telling the stories of the workers and entrepreneurs who power the motor industry.
You can watch the latest MISATv interview here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kywvrCiWAtk
Issued by Sonja Carstens, Manager: MISA Media & Communication Department, on behalf of the Union. For media enquiries, contact Phakamile Hlubi-Majola on 083 367 6417 or email [email protected].
Caption: Phakamile Hlubi-Majola, the host of MISATv, with Cindy Ramokoto, a Chartered Accountant, who decided to buy her own two BP fuel stations in our male dominated industry.
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