Sanjeev Soosaipillai’s rise from a leased petrol forecourt to the helm of one of Britain’s largest independent energy groups is a study in risk, perseverance and hands-on entrepreneurship. The Prax Group, which began with a single Hertfordshire filling station and a modest bank loan, has grown into a vertically integrated energy business with billions in revenue and a global footprint.
The origins are deliberately unglamorous. Arriving in the UK as a 17-year-old refugee from Sri Lanka, Sanjeev Soosaipillai took immediate employment and later financed his studies through side businesses importing shirts and used cars. At university he met Arani, who would become both his wife and business partner. Early exposure to fuel retail came from weekend shifts and family-owned petrol sites, experience that proved pivotal when an ageing forecourt owner offered the couple a lease rather than an outright sale.
The Classic Petrol Station in St Albans provided a low-capital entry point, but running the site required working capital. The founders secured a £15,000 loan from an HSBC branch manager based on improvised financial projections and then exhausted personal credit lines, remortgaged property and leaned on family support to keep the operation solvent. The business launched in 1999 with the pair handling most roles themselves and the first employees effectively starting work from the founders’ home.
State Oil Limited, incorporated in 2000, formalised early holdings and paved the way for rapid expansion. By 2001 additional sites were acquired and a move into wholesale distribution followed in 2002 through Prax Petroleum Limited. Strategic partnerships offered financing and consignment structures that enabled cross-border trading and a steady escalation in revenues: from £3.8 million in the retail phase to £75.8 million by 2007 and hundreds of millions within a few years.
Key to that growth was a willingness to assume personal liability and to manage cash tightly. Mortgages were placed on family homes, overdrafts were secured against personal property, and suppliers extended credit terms that matched the company’s payment cycles. An early Weybridge serviced office, small enough to be dubbed the broom cupboard, became the operational nucleus where four desks were squeezed in and the business scaled from that cramped space.
International trading independence arrived in 2012 when bilateral credit lines from major banks allowed Prax to buy cargoes directly without supplier financing. The trajectory culminated in a 25th anniversary in September 2024 that reflected substantial scale: roughly $10 billion in revenues at peak operations, 1,450 employees, gross assets of $2.3 billion and net assets of $604 million. Sanjeev served as Chairman and Chief Executive while Arani led human resources and corporate affairs, a partnership credited internally with steadying the company through high-risk expansions.
The Prax story is not merely one of commercial success. It underscores how operational know-how, relentless reinvestment of earnings and strategic use of third-party financing can convert modest beginnings into industrial scale. For Sanjeev Soosaipillai and his co-founder, the willingness to gamble personal assets and to grind through early operational challenges proved decisive in building a major player in the energy sector.