The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), in partnership with the African Association of Automotive Manufacturers (AAAM), the Secretariat of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), Egypt's Ministry of Trade and Investment and South Africa's Department of Trade, Industry and Competition, hosted the Africa Automotive Investment Forum, held recently on the sidelines of the Alamein Africa Forum in El Alamein, Egypt.

The two-day forum brought together senior policymakers in Africa's automotive industry, private-sector original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and component makers operating in Africa. It sought to inform policymakers of the policy changes and reforms needed to develop the automotive sector, give investors direct access to policymakers and manufacturers alike, and facilitate potential joint ventures and supply agreements or engagements leading to future deals.

Afreximbank said the forum prioritised joint ventures and technology-transfer agreements between major global carmakers and African companies, with the aim of creating highly skilled engineering, industrial and technical jobs for Africa's growing youth population, while giving a significant boost to local small and medium-sized enterprises in the second tier of the supply chain.

The bank described the automotive sector as a strategic priority because it is a powerful driver of industrialisation in Africa, intra-African trade and economic resilience. It noted that many African countries are already making significant progress in developing a manufacturing sector that has attracted growing investment in the emerging automotive industry, including new energy vehicles.

Highlighting the forum's importance to Afreximbank, Ms. Kanayo Awani, Executive Vice President for Intra-African Trade and Export Development, said: "The automotive sector is a cornerstone for advancing industrialisation in Africa and achieving the structural transformation that Afreximbank supports. By driving the integration of regional value chains, the automotive industry aligns directly with our mandate to boost intra-African trade under the African Continental Free Trade Area. Supporting this sector allows Afreximbank to catalyse high-impact investment, strengthen manufacturing capacity, create jobs for skilled labour and significantly reduce the continent's heavy dependence on vehicle imports. Investing in Africa's automotive ecosystem is not merely a financing opportunity; it is a strategic imperative that accelerates economic diversification and positions Africa as a competitive player in the global industrial economy."

Awani said there are significant investment opportunities in automotive manufacturing in Africa, including component manufacturing, drawing on the continent's growing skills base and its raw materials such as lithium, cobalt, manganese, nickel, copper, iron and steel. She added that Afreximbank supports the development of a continent-wide automotive industry made up of an interconnected ecosystem of component and vehicle manufacturing, underpinned by supply chains and intra-African trade.

Awani noted that Afreximbank has committed USD 1 billion to financing Africa's automotive sector, as part of its strategy to promote manufacturing, trade and industrial development across Africa.

The forum saw the signing of a joint venture agreement between South Africa's Malben Engineering and El Araby Group, the Egypt-based industrial conglomerate, to set up a joint component-manufacturing platform serving the Egyptian, South African and wider African markets. The venture combines El Araby Group's industrial, engineering and technological capabilities with Malben Engineering's more than 50 years of experience in manufacturing and forming metal automotive components. It embodies the kind of commercial partnership that will drive the development of supply chains and intra-African trade in the automotive sector.

Tarek Mosaad, President of the African Association of Automotive Manufacturers (AAAM), said: "With the rules of origin under the African Continental Free Trade Area now agreed, the foundations for a more integrated automotive industry are in place. Our focus must now be on turning ambition into action by building factories, strengthening supplier ecosystems, creating jobs and increasing intra-African trade." He noted that "the association remains focused on three key priorities:

  • Increasing local content through regional value chains

  • Facilitating the cross-border movement of automotive products

  • Ensuring Africa plays an active role in shaping the future of mobility"

In his call to action, he stressed that "investors are not looking at 54 separate African markets; they are looking at one integrated opportunity."

H.E. Wamkele Mene, Secretary-General of the AfCFTA Secretariat, endorsed the views expressed by Afreximbank and the AAAM and set out three priorities for advancing the African automotive strategy under the AfCFTA: "preparing investment-ready projects and competitive production sites; strengthening regional supplier networks and increasing reliance on local production; and establishing commercially viable regional production."

As a further step towards advancing these priorities, the AfCFTA Secretariat and the AAAM signed a memorandum of understanding to strengthen cooperation in developing Africa's automotive industry.

The memorandum provides a framework for cooperation in implementing the African automotive strategy under the AfCFTA, covering automotive rules of origin, customs procedures and trade facilitation, automotive policies and standards, capacity building, the development of regional suppliers and value chains, maximising the value added to minerals, investment mobilisation and emerging automotive technologies.

The partnership will also support ongoing efforts by the AfCFTA Secretariat and Afreximbank to advance the AfCFTA automotive investment plan, with a focus on mobilising investment and strengthening competitive regional automotive production networks.

The forum also saw the creation of a joint Egyptian–South African Business Council aimed at developing bilateral trade and investment projects across priority sectors, including automotive, mining and mineral resources, renewable energy, agriculture and food production, pharmaceuticals, and transport infrastructure and logistics, drawing on the Suez Canal and both countries' national ports to facilitate greater trade between North and Southern Africa.

For a more hands-on experience, delegates moved from policy discussions to seeing the industry on the ground, with organised site visits to the OEMs Nissan Motor Corporation, General Motors Egypt and Mansour Automotive, and to component maker Mobica in 6th of October City. The visits offered a first-hand look at the industrial base of Egypt's automotive sector, showing its progression from vehicle assembly and greater use of local components to supplier development, manufacturing capability and expansion into regional markets. They also highlighted tangible opportunities for investment, technology transfer and cross-border value-chain integration that could help establish Africa as a competitive automotive manufacturing hub.

With demand for vehicles in Africa expected to reach 5 million units by 2035, and global interest in new energy vehicles rising, industry stakeholders and policymakers see opportunities to drive local manufacturing through the automotive and renewable energy sectors, drawing on Africa's raw materials. Forum participants stressed that policy incentives must be appropriate and that the availability of affordable financing will help stimulate demand and capital investment.