Ralph Mupita, MTN Group President and CEO said, “Our ambition for Africa is ultimately powered by people. Technology will continue to change what is possible, but it is the ingenuity, resilience and commitment of our people that turn that possibility into progress.”

The Forbes list is drawn from an independent, anonymous survey in which more than 300,000 employees in over 50 countries are asked how likely they are to recommend their employer to family and friends. Zain Group which is headquartered in Kuwait City topped the telecoms category.

Mupita said, “Being recognised among the world’s best employers for a sixth consecutive year is something we are proud of, particularly because the list is informed by the voices and experiences of employees.”

Over the last three years, MTN has climbed 261 places in the overall ranking, rising from 394th in 2023 to 133rd in 2026. This year alone, the Group moved up 33 places to rank 133rd out of 900 companies globally, making MTN the fifth-highest-ranked African company and the highest-ranked African company outside financial services.

The recognition comes at an important point in MTN’s journey as the Group begins delivering its Ambition 2030 strategy, with its people at the centre of the work to lead digital solutions for Africa’s progress. The ranking is also a sign of the progress MTN has made in bringing its Live Inspired Employee Value Promise and Live Y’ello values to life.

MTN’s workforce spans more than 70 nationalities across its footprint, bringing together people working across Connectivity, Fintech and Digital Infrastructure. The Group’s Live Inspired employee promise and Live Y’ello values underpin its approach to creating a workplace where people can contribute meaningfully, continue learning and feel included.

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Uganda Development Bank (UDB) has commissioned its revamped 14-storey headquarters in Kampala as the state-owned development lender seeks to strengthen the institutional capacity behind its expanding role in financing the country’s productive sectors.

UDB Tower, located on Plot 22 Hannington Road, brings the bank’s head-office operations together in a purpose-built facility after years of operating from rented premises.

The commissioning on October 6 was officiated by Finance Minister Henry Musasizi, who said the investment in the bank’s institutional infrastructure should ultimately translate into greater capacity to mobilise and deploy long-term capital into the economy.

Minister of Finance, Hon. Henry Musasizi signs on a mural during the launch of UDB Tower

Musasizi said Uganda’s next phase of economic transformation would require institutions capable of directing finance towards agro-industrialisation, tourism, mineral-based industrialisation, and science, technology and innovation.

The minister’s message puts the headquarter building into a wider context where government wants the bank to use its balance sheet, expertise and partnerships to bring additional private and development finance into sectors considered critical to economic transformation.

“UDB occupies a critical place in this national development architecture,” Musasizi said, arguing that the institution must connect Uganda’s development priorities with the capital required to turn them into productive investments.

The 14-floor development has approximately 7,806 square metres of gross floor area, including two basement levels. It houses modern workspaces, customer-service facilities, meeting and training rooms, an innovation room, boardroom and upgraded ICT infrastructure.

The building is also intended to provide space for an auditorium and resource centre, giving UDB a platform for training, knowledge-sharing and engagement around development finance.

Board chairman Geoffrey Kihuguru said the headquarters should be viewed as an investment in the institution’s ability to finance Uganda’s development over the long term rather than simply as a property project.

“As the country pursues accelerated economic transformation, UDB must have the institutional strength, governance, talent and infrastructure required to mobilise capital, support productive enterprises and catalyse investments of national significance,” he said.

UDB has also positioned the new building as part of its effort to improve the efficiency of its own operations.

The tower incorporates a central Building Management System to monitor and control key electrical and mechanical systems. It also has a 25-kilowatt solar installation designed to supplement grid power.

Lighting controls and zoned air-conditioning are intended to reduce unnecessary energy consumption, while extensive glazing and openable windows allow greater use of natural light and ventilation.

The environmental features are relatively modest in scale but point to a broader shift in how large institutional buildings are being designed and operated, particularly as energy costs and sustainability considerations become increasingly relevant to businesses and public institutions.

Managing Director Patricia Ojangole said the building consolidates the bank’s people and operations while providing a platform for further institutional development.

“Beyond providing a modern and efficient working environment, it brings our people and operations together in a space designed to strengthen collaboration, innovation and service delivery. It also reflects the growth, resilience and ambition of an institution whose responsibility is to deliver meaningful and measurable development impact for Uganda,” said Dr. Ojangole.

The headquarters comes amid a broader transformation programme at UDB that has focused on governance, operational efficiency, financial performance, partnerships, technology and human capital.

Development finance institutions occupy a difficult space between commercial banking and government policy. They are expected to provide patient capital to businesses and projects that may be strategically important but are not always attractive to conventional lenders because of long repayment periods, high upfront costs or perceived risks.

Government’s expectation, as outlined at the commissioning, is that UDB will increasingly help crowd private capital into sectors capable of expanding production, employment and exports.

Kihuguru said the new head office provides an institutional platform commensurate with UDB’s growing responsibilities and reflects the Bank’s commitment to ensuring it remains resilient, sustainable and capable of delivering development impact at scale.

“Our responsibility is to build a development finance institution that is not only relevant to Uganda’s needs today, but one that has the capacity and resilience to serve generations to come. UDB Tower is part of that long-term institutional investment and reflects our confidence in the future of the Bank and, more importantly, in Uganda’s development journey,” Mr. Kihuguru added.

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The next major gains in aviation safety will depend less on creating new rules than on combining experienced people, resilient technology and consistent enforcement of existing global standards, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has said.

Opening the IATA World Safety and Operations Conference in Istanbul on October 6, IATA Director of Safety Mark Searle said the industry had made significant safety gains but could not afford to become complacent.

Fatal accident rates have improved from one accident per 3.5 million flights a decade ago to one per 5.6 million flights today. But 394 people were still killed in aviation accidents in 2025, underscoring the consequences of weaknesses in the system.

“The next advance in safety will come from people, technology, and standards working together better as one resilient system,” Searle said.

For IATA, one of the emerging challenges is managing the transition between generations of aviation professionals while retaining operational knowledge built up over decades.

The association is calling for more structured mentoring, training and succession planning to ensure that experience is not lost as older professionals leave the industry.

That knowledge will increasingly need to be combined with the digital capabilities of a younger workforce, particularly as airlines and regulators adopt artificial intelligence and other data-driven technologies.

But IATA’s position is that technological sophistication should not be mistaken for safety resilience.

Searle said new technology should be assessed against three basic questions: whether it improves understanding of emerging risks, whether it supports better decision-making, and whether an operation can remain safe if the technology becomes unavailable or is compromised.

The warning is particularly relevant as aviation faces growing interference with global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), which can disrupt navigation and other aircraft systems.

Technology can help identify risks earlier, but its failure or degradation must not leave aviation without an effective fallback.

That means maintaining redundancy, procedures, training and human judgement alongside increasingly automated systems.

“Technology alone is never enough,” Searle said, pointing to GNSS interference as an example of why aviation systems must be designed to remain safe when technology is unavailable, degraded or produces misleading information.

IATA is also challenging the assumption that the industry’s safety problem is primarily a shortage of international standards.

The association argues that many of the most significant weaknesses now arise from inconsistent implementation and oversight of standards that already exist.

The performance of airlines participating in IATA’s IOSA safety audit programme demonstrates, in the association’s view, the value of common standards when they are backed by effective oversight.

The next improvement therefore requires governments, regulators and operators to concentrate on applying existing requirements consistently rather than continually adding new layers of regulation.

IATA has identified stronger implementation and oversight, improved compliance by states with international obligations and regular modernisation of standards as priorities.

It has particularly highlighted conflict-zone risk information and accident reporting as areas where stronger state compliance is needed.

For regulators operating with limited resources, IATA says oversight should also be increasingly risk-based, directing attention towards areas where safety risks are greatest rather than treating every requirement equally.

The approach has implications beyond major aviation markets. As air traffic expands in emerging markets, the effectiveness of safety regulation will depend not simply on whether countries have adopted international standards, but on whether they have the institutional capacity, trained personnel and technical systems to implement and monitor them.

The same principle applies to accident investigation, operational reporting and the management of emerging risks.

IATA’s message is that aviation safety is becoming less about finding a single technological or regulatory solution and more about ensuring that the different parts of the safety system reinforce each other.

A highly automated aircraft still requires competent people. Sophisticated navigation technology requires procedures for when it fails. And international standards have limited value if implementation and oversight vary significantly between jurisdictions. As aviation becomes more technologically complex, maintaining that resilience could prove as important as developing the next generation of safety technology.

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Airlink is expanding its Cape Town network on two fronts, adding a new domestic connection to Johannesburg’s Lanseria International Airport while extending its reach into the Indian Ocean with a direct service to Mauritius.

The moves give travellers from the Western Cape new alternatives both within South Africa and beyond the country’s borders, while allowing the privately owned regional carrier to build more traffic around Cape Town rather than relying exclusively on connections through Johannesburg.

From 4 December 2026, Airlink will introduce daily flights between Cape Town and Lanseria, its first scheduled domestic service to the airport. The route, which will be operated using the carrier’s 98-seat Embraer E190, will initially run with two daily return flights and will increase to four daily return services from 22 March 2027, according to the airline.

The Lanseria service is intended to provide an alternative to Johannesburg’s larger O.R. Tambo International Airport, particularly for passengers travelling to and from western Gauteng and neighbouring parts of North West province.

The initial schedule provides morning and afternoon options in both directions. Flights from Cape Town to Lanseria will depart at 09:20 and 13:30, arriving at 11:35 and 15:45 respectively. Return flights from Lanseria will depart at 09:10 and 13:00, reaching Cape Town at 11:35 and 15:25.

Airlink CEO de Villiers Engelbrecht said the route was intended to give passengers another option for travel between the two regions while complementing the airline’s existing services to O.R. Tambo.

The Lanseria launch comes only days after Airlink began a twice-weekly non-stop service from Cape Town to Mauritius, on October 2.

The Cape Town-Mauritius route is Airlink’s first service to the Indian Ocean island and removes the need for passengers travelling between the two destinations to connect through Johannesburg.

The route is operated by Airlink’s 124-seat Embraer E195-E2, including 12 Business Class seats, with flights operating on Tuesdays and Fridays.

Flight 4Z350 leaves Cape Town at 10:05 and arrives in Mauritius at 17:15, while the return service, 4Z351, departs Mauritius at 18:15 and reaches Cape Town at 22:35.

While the two new routes serve distinctly different markets, together they point to a broader effort by Airlink to strengthen Cape Town as a point of origin and destination.

The Lanseria service targets domestic business and leisure traffic while providing an alternative gateway to Johannesburg’s western suburbs and the North West. The Mauritius route, meanwhile, connects Cape Town directly with an established Indian Ocean tourism and business market.

The route comes as Mauritius continues to attract international visitors through its established tourism industry, which encompasses beach resorts, golf, marine recreation and the island’s multicultural heritage. The country received more than 1.4 million visitors in 2025, according to figures cited by Airlink, with South Africa among its largest source markets.

Beyond tourism, the new connection serves an established commercial relationship. More than 140 South African businesses operate in Mauritius across sectors including agriculture, manufacturing, consumer goods and information and communications technology. The island’s financial services and business process outsourcing industries also support commercial links with South Africa and other markets.

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Airbus has completed the maiden flight of its A350F freighter, marking the start of a flight-test campaign for the new-generation widebody cargo aircraft as manufacturers and operators look to replace ageing freighter fleets with more fuel-efficient aircraft.

The first of two A350F test aircraft, MSN 700, flew for four hours and 10 minutes, reaching 25,000 feet. The flight was conducted by an Airbus test crew and focused on basic airworthiness, flying qualities and the performance of the aircraft’s fundamental systems.

The maiden flight begins a flight-test programme expected to run for more than nine months.

The second prototype, MSN 701, is in the final stages of assembly and is expected to enter the paint shop in the coming weeks.

The A350F is based on Airbus’ A350 platform but has been designed specifically for cargo operations. Airbus says the aircraft will have a range of up to 8,700 kilometres and a payload capacity of up to 111 tonnes, positioning it for long-haul international freight operations.

More than 70% of the aircraft is made from advanced materials, contributing to a maximum take-off weight that Airbus says is 46 tonnes lower than that of competing aircraft with comparable payload-range capabilities.

The aircraft is powered by Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-97 engines, the same basic engine used on the A350-1000 passenger aircraft. Rolls-Royce says the engine has accumulated more than 4.5 million flying hours over eight years of A350-1000 operations.

That operational experience is being carried into the freighter programme, although the A350F will operate different mission profiles from passenger aircraft, including different payloads, stage lengths and utilisation patterns.

Airbus says the A350F is expected to deliver fuel-consumption and carbon-emissions reductions of up to 40pc compared with competing aircraft with similar payload-range capability. It is also designed to meet the latest International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) CO₂ emissions standards.

The programme has already built a significant order book. At the end of August, Airbus reported 115 A350F orders from 14 disclosed customers, giving the aircraft up to 59pc of the large-freighter market by order share, according to the manufacturer.

The first flight nevertheless marks the beginning rather than the completion of the programme. The test campaign will progressively expand from basic aircraft handling and systems checks to the broader performance and certification requirements needed before the A350F enters commercial service.

For Rolls-Royce, the flight also represents the Trent XWB-97’s entry into the freighter market after establishing itself on the A350-1000 passenger aircraft.

Ian Smith, Chief Engineer for the Trent XWB, said the engine’s existing operating record provided a basis for assessing the demands of the freighter mission.

“The freighter mission is different. The engine challenge is not,” Smith said.

Rolls-Royce is also developing an upgrade programme for the Trent XWB-97, with the company saying improvements are expected to support up to six years of time on wing from 2028.

The A350F’s development comes as cargo operators face pressure to improve fuel efficiency while maintaining payload and long-haul range. The aircraft’s commercial proposition will therefore depend not only on its headline payload and range figures, but also on how its operating economics, reliability and maintenance performance translate into airline and cargo-network operations.

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The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is calling for a multi-layered approach to cargo safety, warning that security screening alone cannot adequately address the risks posed by undeclared or mis-declared dangerous goods entering the air transport system.

The industry body wants regulators, manufacturers, online marketplaces, shippers, freight forwarders, airlines, airports and ground handlers to play a more active role in identifying hazardous cargo earlier in the supply chain.

IATA’s warning, issued in Budapest on 24 September, comes amid discussions among aviation regulators over the role of existing security screening systems in detecting dangerous goods.

While screening remains an important safeguard, IATA says it was primarily designed to identify explosives and other aviation security threats and is not equipped to detect the full range of dangerous goods.

The scale of the problem is reflected in incident data where about 80pc of dangerous-goods incidents reported to IATA during the first half of 2025 involved undeclared or hidden dangerous goods. Lithium batteries were among the products commonly identified, alongside concealed e-cigarettes, aerosols and other hazardous commodities.

“Dangerous goods are transported safely by air every day. The risk comes when they enter the system undeclared or incorrectly declared,” said Brendan Sullivan, IATA’s Global Head of Cargo.

He said every participant in the cargo supply chain has a role to play in identifying and stopping dangerous goods before they reach aircraft.

IATA argues that the response should begin further upstream, rather than relying predominantly on airport screening. It is urging governments to strengthen oversight and enforcement, while manufacturers and online marketplaces should improve product identification, certification and the accuracy of product information.

Shippers, freight forwarders and postal operators are being encouraged to strengthen training and acceptance controls and make greater use of customer and shipment data to identify higher-risk consignments before they reach airports.

Airlines and ground handlers should reinforce pre-loading checks, while airports should improve coordination and information sharing among cargo stakeholders.

The issue is increasingly frontline as e-commerce expands and more consumer products containing lithium batteries and other regulated materials move through air cargo networks.

IATA’s position is outlined in its white paper, Safety and Security in the Cargo Supply Chain, which argues for treating dangerous-goods safety and aviation security as complementary layers of protection rather than relying on security screening as the primary means of detecting undeclared hazardous cargo.

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Ugandan air cargo company Jet Fresh Cargo has been shortlisted for the General Sales and Service Agent (GSSA) of the Year award at the 2026 Air Cargo News Awards in London, putting an Entebbe-based cargo sales and service company into competition with established players from the international air freight industry.

Jet Fresh Cargo is one of six finalists in the category, alongside 4RCargo, ECS Group, FlyUs Aviation Group, Network Airline Services and Wexco Airfreight (UK). The winner will be announced on October 21 at the Royal Lancaster London hotel.

The shortlist places the Ugandan company in a competitive field that includes organisations with international operations and established positions in the global cargo agency market. The six GSSA finalists include organisations operating across broader international markets, making Jet Fresh’s appearance notable as an African company operating from a relatively small aviation market.

The category also has an established pedigree. In 2025, the GSSA of the Year award went to FlyUs Aviation Group, with Network Airline Services highly commended. Both are again among the 2026 finalists.

The awards organisers say the programme, now in its 42nd year, recognises achievements across the air cargo industry and uses an independent panel of industry experts in its judging process.

Jet Fresh’s the nomination follows a period in which Uganda’s air cargo proposition has increasingly been linked to the country’s efforts to expand exports of fresh produce, meat and other value-added agricultural products.

The company’s CEO, Wail Dagash, said the nomination reflected the support of its airline partners, customers, agents, the Uganda Civil Aviation Authority and ground-handling partners at Entebbe.

He also framed the nomination as recognition for Uganda’s participation in the wider African air cargo industry.

For Uganda’s air cargo sector, however, the significance of the nomination extends beyond the award itself. Jet Fresh’s presence on the shortlist provides an international reference point for a segment of Uganda’s aviation industry that operates largely behind the scenes but is increasingly important to the country’s ambitions to move higher-value and perishable products into export markets.

Jet Fresh specialises in cargo requiring controlled handling, including chilled and frozen meat, fish, fruits and vegetables, flowers, and other temperature-sensitive shipments.

The company has been acting as the Uganda GSSA for Flynas Cargo, whose direct Entebbe-Riyadh operation has opened a shorter air route into Saudi Arabia for Ugandan exporters.

That connection has already been used for fresh agricultural exports. In May 2026, a 2,500-kilogram consignment of chilled Ugandan meat was flown from Entebbe to Riyadh, with Jet Fresh facilitating the shipment. The company has also said more than half a million kilograms of Ugandan fresh produce had moved to Saudi Arabia through the Flynas route since its introduction.

The significance of such connections lies partly in the economics of perishables, where transit time directly affects shelf life and the commercial value of a shipment.

Jet Fresh says its cargo operation includes refrigerated collection from exporters, cargo screening and build-up at Entebbe, cold-room storage and temperature monitoring through the transport chain. It also works with destination handlers to facilitate delivery and uses cold-storage facilities at selected transit points. The company has also introduced cargo charter operations for time-sensitive freight.

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DHL Express has added a new weekly freighter service linking Bahrain and Johannesburg, increasing air cargo capacity between the Middle East and Southern Africa as trade routes and supply chains continue to diversify.

The first direct DHL flight from Bahrain arrived at OR Tambo International Airport on September 21, marking the start of the service operated with a Boeing 767 freighter.

The new route provides additional inbound and outbound cargo capacity for South Africa and neighbouring markets through DHL’s Johannesburg hub, while connecting the region to the company’s wider Middle East and global aviation network.

DHL said the service is intended to support growing trade flows between Africa, the Gulf and international markets, particularly as companies diversify sourcing, manufacturing and customer markets beyond established trade corridors.

Anthony Beckley, Vice President of Operations and Aviation for DHL Express Sub-Saharan Africa, said demand was increasing across sectors including healthcare, technology, manufacturing and cross-border e-commerce.

“As global trade routes diversify and economic ties between Africa and the Middle East continue to strengthen, we are seeing new opportunities for businesses,” Beckley said.

The Bahrain-Johannesburg connection adds to DHL’s existing aviation network through Bahrain, which links Middle Eastern markets with major global gateways including Hong Kong, Leipzig and Cincinnati.

Richard Gale, Vice President of Aviation at DHL Express MENA, said Bahrain’s location provided a link between Africa and the Middle East, while the new Johannesburg service would provide a direct connection between the two markets.

The new lane comes as companies increasingly seek alternatives to traditional supply routes and as trade relationships between African markets and Gulf economies expand.

For South Africa and neighbouring countries, the service provides additional air freight capacity through Johannesburg, with onward connections into DHL’s broader international network.

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President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni today presided over the groundbreaking for Uganda’s Kampala Storage Terminal (KST) in Namwabula, Mpigi District, launching construction of a USD310 million facility designed to hold up to 320 million litres of refined petroleum products.

The terminal, being developed by the Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC), is expected to be completed in September 2028, following 24 months of construction under an Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract.

The project adds a major storage and distribution component to Uganda’s developing petroleum value chain as the country advances towards domestic oil production, refining and regional petroleum trade.

Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony, President Museveni welcomed cooperation among East African countries in developing the region’s petroleum sector, linking Uganda’s storage ambitions to broader regional energy security.

“I am happy that Her Excellency Samia Suluhu has sent a delegation, so we are working together with East Africa to develop our petroleum,” Museveni said, referring to the Tanzanian President’s delegation at the ceremony.

The President further said Uganda would participate in the development of a larger refinery in Tanga, Tanzania, as part of regional efforts to strengthen petroleum security.

Storage capacity and regional distribution

The KST will provide additional capacity for Uganda to maintain petroleum reserves, receive imported products and support the distribution of fuel to domestic and regional markets.

Uganda currently consumes approximately 240 million litres of petroleum products each month, including petrol, diesel, jet fuel and kerosene. The new facility is intended to strengthen the country’s ability to manage supply disruptions, improve storage resilience and support the operations of oil marketing companies.

The terminal will complement UNOC’s existing 30-million-litre Jinja Storage Terminal and private-sector storage facilities. Its planned functions include Government strategic reserves, commercial storage and handling services for oil marketing companies, and the distribution of petroleum products.

Located on approximately 300 acres at Namwabula Estate, the facility is expected to serve Kampala, the Central Region and other parts of Uganda, while supporting the country’s ambitions to become a regional petroleum distribution hub.

UNOC Board Chairman Mathias Katamba described the terminal as a major milestone in Uganda’s petroleum sector, saying it would contribute to positioning the country as a regional hub for petroleum products.

Katamba said UNOC was ready to commence implementation of the project after securing the necessary Government and building permits from relevant local authorities, as well as a petroleum facility construction permit from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development.

Linking storage to domestic refining

The Kampala Storage Terminal is being developed as part of a wider infrastructure system that will connect imported and locally refined petroleum products.

The terminal is expected to link with the planned refinery in Hoima through a proposed 211-kilometre multi-products pipeline. It will also incorporate the future Mpigi Remote Refinery Terminal (MRRT), designed to receive, store and dispatch petroleum products produced locally.

Once the refinery, pipeline, MRRT and KST are operational, Uganda will have an interconnected system for receiving, storing and distributing petroleum products, reducing the separation between crude oil production, refining and downstream supply infrastructure.

The project is aligned with the Government’s commitments under the Fourth National Development Plan (NDP IV), which seeks to increase national storage capacity for refined petroleum products from 99.1 million litres in financial year 2023/24 to 150 million litres by 2029/30.

The planned expansion of the Jinja Storage Terminal and the preparation of regional strategic storage facilities are also part of the Government’s petroleum infrastructure agenda.

Museveni raises environmental concerns

While launching the project, President Museveni cautioned against encroachment on wetlands and other water bodies, emphasising the need to protect the environment as Uganda expands its industrial infrastructure.

He also raised concerns about the proximity of a garbage dumping site to the planned petroleum storage facility, describing the situation as dangerous and calling for the site to be relocated.

“We must find alternative means of dealing with waste. One of the ways is through incineration, which is also a source of electricity,” Museveni said.

The remarks introduce an environmental and public safety dimension to the development of a large petroleum storage facility, particularly concerning waste management and the protection of surrounding land and water resources.

The KST groundbreaking comes two weeks after President Museveni announced the name Pearl Sweet for Uganda’s crude oil, as the country prepares for first oil and advances plans for domestic refining.

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By Nikhath Zigmund

Africa’s electric mobility market is emerging where the economics are most compelling. Commercial motorcycles, three-wheelers, buses, delivery fleets and logistics vehicles travel frequently, follow relatively predictable routes and consume significant amounts of fuel.

For these operators, the lifetime cost of a vehicle matters more than its purchase price alone. We are already seeing this shift. Sales of electric two-wheelers in Africa reached approximately 70,000 in 2025, more than 80 times the level recorded at the beginning of the decade. The number remains modest within Africa’s wider transport market, but the trajectory points to a sector moving from isolated pilots towards commercial adoption.

The economics supporting that growth continue to improve. Average battery prices declined by 8pc in 2025, following a 20pc reduction in 2024. Electric vehicles can already offer a lower lifetime cost of ownership in many applications because of reduced fuel and maintenance costs, even where their initial purchase price remains higher.

These savings are particularly relevant for vehicles used to generate income. A motorcycle completing deliveries throughout the day or a bus operating a fixed route can recover a higher upfront cost more quickly than a vehicle that spends most of its time parked. This helps explain why commercial fleets and two-wheelers are becoming important entry points for electric mobility across East Africa.

The vehicle is only one part of the opportunity. Every electric mobility platform depends on charging points, grid connections, battery systems, depots, maintenance networks, digital payment systems and reliable electricity supply. These are the systems that determine whether a fleet can operate consistently and whether the business behind it can scale.

From an infrastructure investor’s perspective, this distinction is important. Vehicle manufacturing can expose investors to changing consumer preferences, competing technologies and individual product risk. Infrastructure serving several operators can offer a different proposition. The opportunity lies in hard assets that support the wider market, generate recurring revenue and can be replicated across cities or countries.

Charging networks, battery-swapping stations and electrified fleet depots become more investable when they are supported by contracted usage, predictable volumes and credible counterparties. Rather than attempting to select the motorcycle or vehicle manufacturer that will eventually dominate, investors can back the infrastructure that different manufacturers and fleet operators will need.

Kenya provides an early indication of how mobility demand can begin to translate into infrastructure revenue. Electricity consumed by electric vehicle charging increased by 188pc in 2025 to 8.43 GWh. Kenya’s dedicated e-mobility tariff charges KSh16 per kWh during peak periods and KSh8 during off-peak hours, creating a financial incentive to charge vehicles when demand on the electricity system is lower.

This connection between mobility and power will become increasingly important. Well-managed charging can create additional demand during periods when generation is underused. It can improve the utilisation of existing power infrastructure and create a new customer base for utilities.

The opposite is also possible. Concentrated charging demand can place pressure on local distribution networks if connections, substations and generation capacity are not expanded in time. Grid planning therefore needs to incorporate the likely growth of electric fleets before constraints emerge.

There is also room for business models that combine charging infrastructure with dedicated renewable generation and battery storage. Solar generation located alongside a bus depot, logistics hub or battery-swapping network can reduce pressure on the grid while improving the reliability and cost of charging.

Africa’s electric mobility opportunity will not follow a single model. Countries with established automotive manufacturing sectors can use existing industrial capability to produce electric vehicles and components. South Africa’s new energy vehicle investment allowance, which took effect in March 2026, provides a 150pc first-year tax deduction for qualifying investment in electric and hydrogen vehicle production assets.

Morocco is following a broader battery value-chain strategy. The country has attracted investment into cathode and anode production and has signed an agreement for a battery gigafactory with an initial planned capacity of 20 GWh. These investments build on an existing automotive manufacturing base and position the country to capture more value from the transition to electric transport.

Markets with large motorcycle and informal transport sectors may follow another path. Their opportunity may lie in local vehicle assembly, battery swapping, fleet leasing and charging networks designed for high-utilisation commercial vehicles.

Not every country needs to manufacture battery cells or complete vehicles. Competitive advantage may be found in components, assembly, maintenance, charging operations, software, fleet management or recycling. The objective should be to identify where each market can build durable capability rather than attempting to replicate the entire value chain.

The central financing challenge is timing. Electric mobility businesses frequently sit between venture capital and conventional infrastructure investment. They require more capital than many early-stage investors can provide, but they may not yet have the operating history, contracted revenue or scale required by traditional infrastructure funds.

Investment in African electric mobility reached almost USD70m in 2023, approximately eight times the level recorded in 2021. Yet the wider clean energy market continues to face a shortage of early-stage equity and project-development capital.

This is where blended finance and specialised transition capital can play a meaningful role. Early investors can support the first depots, charging networks and operating platforms while business models are refined. Concessional capital can absorb specific early-stage risks and help mobilise commercial investment without replacing the need for sound underlying economics.
The aim should be to create businesses that can eventually attract larger pools of institutional capital. Once utilisation is proven, contracts are established and cash flows become predictable, these platforms can move from experimentation to infrastructure scale.

Policy will determine how quickly this happens. Investors need consistent rules governing vehicle imports, charging standards, electricity tariffs, local assembly and grid connections. Incentives can help an emerging sector establish itself, but their greatest value lies in providing sufficient certainty for businesses to invest and build. They do not need to remain permanent. They need to be credible.

Electric mobility offers Africa an opportunity to build more than a market for imported vehicles. It can support new electricity demand, stronger utility economics, local industrial capability and infrastructure platforms designed around the way people and goods move across the continent. The vehicle will remain the most visible part of the transition. The infrastructure around it will determine whether the opportunity delivers.

Nikhath Zigmund is a Senior Investment Advisor to AIIM’s Africa Transition Acceleration Fund, with over 18 years of African infrastructure investment experience. She has led major renewable energy projects in Uganda and Kenya, including hydropower and the 100MW Kipeto wind project. She previously headed Energy for Africa at Fortescue, focusing on green hydrogen. She holds an MBA from Harvard Business School. 

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