This 15-year-old Brisbane entrepreneur helps Aussies pay for tolls

A 15-year-old Brisbane entrepreneur is on a mission to support local pandemic-affected businesses, reduce road congestion and help motorists using tolls in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne save time, money, fuel and stress by launching a new toll cashback service — Tollz.

Tollz founder and Brisbane student Henry Coward started the business after winning a University of Queensland Young Entrepreneurs competition at 14 where entrants were challenged to find a solution to local problems.

Coward, who spent a year working on his idea, has launched the toll cashback program nationally with a network of thousands of products and brands such as Big W, Hellofresh, Subway, Virgin and Booking.com so toll motorists can start travelling for free by making everyday purchases.

According to the Tollz website, when you use the special Tollz online shopping links or connect a credit card to Tollz and shop at participating retailers in-store, Tollz technology automatically provides the cashback on offer through to the Linkt toll account details that have been provided.

Since launching nationally this year, Tollz has more than 300 users and growing, who have spent thousands on everything from their daily coffee to new car tyres, flights, and even Mother’s Day gifts.

Businesses keen to join can sign up for free to allow customers to start saving on tolls by making everyday purchases in-store or online.

Coward said with the cost of living rising exponentially, local businesses still struggling post-pandemic, and people wanting to get home to their families faster, Tollz was a win, win, win.

Making everyday shopping rewarding

“My family uses Brisbane’s toll roads a lot, driving to and from work and ferrying me and my siblings to extra-curricular activities. Toll roads are a great way to save time and stress, but I know they are also expensive so a big part of Tollz is making these roads accessible to more people by allowing them to turn their everyday expenses into free toll trips,” Coward said.

“When I realised the costs of tolls could be covered through a cashback program, which would also support local businesses who have been doing it tough in recent years, it was such a no-brainer, I was determined to make it a reality so we could all start reaping the rewards.

“Mum and Dad have already earned hundreds of dollars’ worth of toll credit, which means their next 30 toll trips are free, and all they had to do was sign up to Tollz and buy the clothes, coffees, food and travel they were spending money on anyway.”

Coward said time management was essential as a teen entrepreneur while juggling school.

“What I’ve noticed is that it’s very hard to start a business as a 15-year-old while trying to maintain other priorities at a high level like school and sports. There have been so many little things that have taken so much longer than I thought they would. Even just getting Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn set up properly took more work than expected,” he said.

“What has been great is the support the school has given me through programs that provided me with time during school to work on the business in a Wework office in the city each week. I’ve also had great mentors like Scott Millar from BOP Industries and Tyson Jennings as part of the Young Entrepreneur competition at UQ Ventures who have helped me throughout my whole journey.

“The main thing for me is learning how to manage my time and schedule my weeks with all the things that need to be done down, down to the hour each day. My schedule is about four weeks in advance for Tollz content, email and website creation, and that helps keep me relaxed knowing I’m not doing things at the last minute.

“A service with our software provider answers customer questions throughout the day while I’m at school, so it’s good to know I can keep on top of things even while I’m at school.”

The Brisbane startup has also partnered with established and regulated cashback provider Super-Rewards in order to leverage its rewards expertise and payment capabilities to kickstart Tollz into the real world quickly and safely.

Coward said he has plans to expand to public transport and offer cashback on public transport cards like Opal, Myki and Go Card in the coming months.

“Firstly, I want to grow Tollz as much as I can and learn from the experience. I’ve already gained so much knowledge around retargeting, website creation, and key business terms, like cost per acquisition, which I’ll be able to apply to future roles,” he said.

“I have started planning to expand Tollz to cover the cost of bus, train and other public transport to share it with people who don’t drive or live outside of major cities.”