FINANCING INVESTMENT AND TRADE IN AFRICA-FITA 2024 IN TUNISIA, JUNE 2024

Under the high patronage of His Excellency, Mr. Kaïs Saïed, President of the Tunisian Republic, Tunisia Africa Business Council-TABC organized the 7th edition of the international conference “FINANCING INVESTMENT & TRADE in AFRICA – FITA2024,” on June 11 and 12, 2024, at the Laïco Hotel in Tunis.

FITA2024 addressed crucial topics for the future of the continent, with the presence of several government delegations, pan-African institutions, international donors, and leaders from the private sector. At the forefront was the imperative to reinvent cooperation among African countries and pursue integration, with the main theme “Strengthening local transformation and technology transfer for sustainable and inclusive growth in Africa.”

This 7th edition notably featured the organization of several carefully chosen “side events” by international partners, covering topics of paramount importance for the continent’s development, such as food security, the energy challenge, Asia-Africa and Europe-Africa cooperation, Industry 4.0, financing, the climate challenge, and logistics corridors in Africa.

  • The Kenyan delegation comprised of participants from Government and private sector including APMA, Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM), Mobius Motors, Motor Cycle Assemblers Association and accompanied by the trip sponsors from GIZ Kenya. More than 280 companies in the automotive sector.
  • Supports more than 100,000 direct employees.
  • Has attained 42% local integration.
  • €2.4B in exports.
  • Contributes about 4% to the GDP.
  • More than 114% growth between the years 2000 t0 2022.
  • 65% of companies in the sector are full exporters.
  • The sector has no OEMs.
  • The electric vehicle segment is not well developed as there are only about 100 EVs currently in operation.
  • Age limit of used vehicles is 5 years.
  • The Tunisian government imports only new vehicles.

The Kenya delegation also met with other delegations from Ghana, Namibia, South Africa, AAAM and exchanged on matters relating to the automotive industry in Africa. Further, a study tour was made to several Tunisian Companies in the automotive sector and learned a lot about the component manufacturing sector in Tunisia.

Highlights of the Tunisian Automotive sector are;

  • More than 280 companies in the automotive sector.
  • Supports more than 100,000 direct employees.
  • Has attained 42% local integration.
  • €2.4B in exports.
  • Contributes about 4% to the GDP.
  • More than 114% growth between the years 2000 t0 2022.
  • 65% of companies in the sector are full exporters.
  • The sector has no OEMs.
  • The sector manufacturers parts for OEMs mostly based in Europe but also exports to the rest of the world.
  • Age limit of used vehicles is 5 years.

It is our belief that the study tour and the visit to Tunisia in general will foster future collaboration between Tunisia and the rest of the continent to develop and grow the automotive industry in Africa. Having a fully functional automotive industry comes with a host of benefits including creation of jobs-both direct and indirect, spurs development of technology, industrial development and growth of other sectors and equipping a country’s work force with technical expertise.

African countries including Kenya will however have to put in place policies and legislate laws aimed at developing their automotive sectors. In Kenya, for example, the National Automotive Policy of 2022 seeks to provide and enabling environment for automotive industry players to realize their full potential and position Kenya as a major automotive manufacturer. The aim of the policy is to improve the local automotive assembly ecosystem in order to expand local market size by promotion of local parts manufacturers.