Russian attack Boycott hits Finnish Teboil entrepreneurs hardly – “Korona took two spring seasons, and now Putin took the third”

Russian The attack on Ukraine set fire to the Teboil boycott in Finland, which has spread rapidly and widely. The idea behind the boycott is to complicate the operations of the Russian oil giant Lukoil. Oy Teboil Ab is a Finnish subsidiary of Lukoil.

At the same time, the boycott will hit Finnish entrepreneurs even harder, selling fuel, washing cars and running lunch restaurants in their own companies under the Teboil brand.

“Sales fell sharply on Friday and fell by 40-50 percent on Saturday,” says a Teboil entrepreneur in northern Finland. Olli-Pekka Mäkipeura To Helsingin Sanomat.

There is deep concern in the voice of the mountain deer.

Mountain deera second – generation service station operator, operates a traffic station in Tervola on the four – lane road between Kemi and Rovaniemi.

“Sales fell by about 5,000 euros in euros on Saturday, which means about 500 meals remained unsold. The staff stood in line and wondered where the customers were. Something could have been guessed as early as the morning I came to work. Then four employees immediately came to say without hugging anything. You knew you were in trouble, ”Mäkipeura tells Helsingin Sanomat.

Teboil boycott spread explosively in Finland from the end of the week. Private individuals reported on the boycott on social media, among other things, and a number of large Finnish organizations joined on Friday.

At that time, Akava Specialties, the Aviation Industry Association, the Finnish Association of Engineers, the JHL, the Finnish Association of Musicians, the Erto Union of Trade Unions and the Tradenomit Association, representing tradenomists, announced the termination of agreements or the termination of co-operation with Teboil. In addition, on Friday, the end of the co-operation with Teboil was announced by the Confederation of Private Motorists and the caravan umbrella organization SF-Caravan.

Saturday a similar decision was also announced by the Food Workers’ Union SEL and the car dealership Kamux.

In total The boycotting organizations have hundreds of thousands of members, as JHL alone has about 200,000 members. The co-operation had meant discounts on fuel prices for union members.

The Teboil chain has a total of about 100 transport stations in Finland, employing a total of about 800 employees in addition to owner-entrepreneurs. In addition, Teboil has about 220 cold stations.

Russian Lukoil is one of the largest companies in Russia and its main owner is considered to be the oligarch Vagit Alekperovia. Former Soviet Deputy Minister of Oil and Gas Industry in the latest financial magazine Forbes in the listing ranked 66th in the world’s wealthiest list.

At the same time, of course, he is also one of the richest people in Russia with billions in assets.

The Russian CEO of Oy Teboil Ab in Finland since 2019 has been a Russian Alexey Moskalenkowho has worked at Lukoil since 2003.

Teboil stations however, Finnish entrepreneurial families are running around the country.

Mäkipeura, a traffic station entrepreneur in northern Finland, says that he understands the boycott in a certain way. However, the mountain deer reminds that a significant number of Finns work at Teboil and that the boycott affects them and their families.

“Almost a thousand Finns work in Teboiles. That is a significant number of people who have now been attacked, ”says Mäkipeura.

For entrepreneurs there are various agreements with Lukoil-driven Teboil for the use of the brand. At some stations, Teboil owns a property that is leased by a Finnish entrepreneur. In others, a Finnish entrepreneur owns a property and pumps, as in the case of Mäkipeura.

“It’s thought that every cup of coffee would go royalties to Putin, but that’s not the case,” says Mäkipeura.

The mountain deer says he pays Teboil only a small monthly fee, about 500 euros, with which he receives marketing material.

“Basically, I could give up even if I didn’t pay anything to Teboil. In Tervola, we also have Hesburger and Kotipizza as brands in the retail space, and we also have our own shop and our own restaurant, which serves lunch and à la carte. The meter field has been leased out to Teboil. They pay a monthly rent for it. ”

“This feels really wrong, as we are a really significant employer in Tervola in this area. There are about twenty staff. As an entrepreneur, I do not join Russia in any way, nor do our staff, ”says Mäkipeura.

Helsinki service station entrepreneur, running Itäväylä Teboil Pekka Haapalainen says they are calm.

“Of course, this is very dubious and scary,” says Haapalainen.

“Our customers have understood. Not very much in sales yet. Next week will see a real impact, ”says Haapalainen.

Teboilin next week, headquarters will consider how to deal with and respond to the widespread boycott.

“I hope for restraint and common sense, now that people have a great passion for this thing around us. This situation is not the fault of our merchants, ”says Director of Marketing and Communications Toni Flyckt From Teboil.

Communications Director Flyckt says that he received a message on Saturday that the pumps of Teboil in Seinäjoki were messed up with cattle blood. The case was also reported in the past as well Yle.

“We are very concerned about how the dealer network can handle it. It must be remembered that there are two years of crowns behind it. This would not have been needed by the merchant field anymore, ”says Flyckt.

Communications Director Flyckt reminds that the Teboil chain buys its fuel in the same way as other chains in Finland.

“I would like the media to take into account that this boycott is aimed at Finns. In this situation, there will be no such boycott outside Finland, ”says the Director of Communications.

Northern Finn entrepreneur Mäkipeura says he has received messages urging him to tear down the Teboilin logos. However, it is not possible to simply withdraw from agreements.

“These comments are not heard at the checkout, but on social media. [Sunnuntaina] when she left for work in the morning, the lady wondered if the building had been sprayed. It wasn’t, ”says Mäkipeura.

The entrepreneurial sky of the mountain deer has already been cramped. Tervola’s original service station building burned down in 2014. The next bully was a corona pandemic that affected the entire service station industry for two years. Despite the pandemic, Mäkipeura took out a large loan and invested in his company because he believes in the future.

“Not two without a third or how to say it,” says Mäkipeura.

“Korona took two spring seasons, and now Putin took the third.”