12 Oct 2023

Botswana has been encouraged to tap into the automobile sector especially component manufacturing and leverage the availability of assembly hubs at its doorstep.

This was highlighted Wednesday during a thematic panel discussion on boosting automotive industries in Botswana at the ongoing Global Expo Botswana 2023, in Gaborone.

German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) head, Ms Victoria Backhaus-Jerling, said all was possible for Botswana in the automotive industry. She, however, said there was need for building expectation management given the intensity and complexity of manufacturing a vehicle.

Ms Backhaus-Jerling said it was paramount to understand the difference between vehicle manufacturing and assembly, indicating that manufacturing involved producing all car parts in a country and joining them to produce a finished invention.

As for assembly, Ms Backhaus-Jerling explained that the process did not have a lot of value addition, one thing that she said was prevalent in most of the African countries in the automobile industry.

She said this process meant that the vehicle got shipped into a country through containers thereafter nut and bolts were  tightened to produce a complete car She reiterated that the process had minimal value addition for the nation.

Ms Backhaus-Jerling said this was why the vision had always revolved around manufacturing, hence her advice for Botswana to tap into component manufacturing since the country was strategically positioned.

She noted that the country had car manufacturers right at its doorstep and was part of SACU, which also made a difference.

Notably, she said Botswana was closer to car manufacturing hubs in South Africa, which also imported vehicle components, one other reason that gave the country an upper hand in the component industry niche.

Ms Backhaus-Jerling said coming to Botswana was such a blessing as she did not know that there were local companies already producing components in the form of copper rods with original materials from sub-Saharan Africa.

She vowed to commit her time to assisting local companies in the component manufacturing space to meet required quality assurance standards in their production line to be able to penetrate the German market.

Meanwhile, GET Invest, Senior Energy Advisor, Mr Dario Mapsanganhe assured businesses seeking support towards funding free assistance to acquire capital.

Mr Mapsanganhe said his company provided support and advice on project development, structuring and access to finance through cultivating bankable business ideas for that concrete investment.

He said their target were businesses that were pursuing moves in the renewable energy space, therefore battery manufacturers in the e-mobility space stem were their potential clients.

Mr Mapsanganhe acknowledged that when starting a new renewable energy business in Africa, entrepreneurs experienced challenges that inhibited their projects from materialising.

He said due to the relatively small size of the project or limitations in the developers’ network or experience, it could be very difficult to identify the sources of finance that the project needs before it could be realised.

Vice versa, he said, investors could experience difficulties in identifying and connecting with promising projects, preventing them from optimizing their impact, hence their existence as a company. Ends