The global consulting firm Automotive Industry Experts (AIH) is exploring possibilities of establishing automotive components manufacturing plant in Sierra Leone.
Representatives of the firm met with officials of the Sierra Leone Investment and Export Promotion Agency (SLIEPA) this week to discuss potential opportunities in the manufacturing sector of the country.
According to a SLIEPA news release, the meeting was held on Tuesday, 18th January at its headquarters in Freetown.
The AIH team was headed by Dean Seagrave-Sutton, who was quoted saying that the group was contracted by the African Export – Import Bank (Afreximbank) to study the possibility of producing car components in Sierra Leone.
According to Mr Seagrave-Sutton, they had already identified the possibility to manufacture car batteries, engine parts and brake pads in the country prior to their arrival.
The AIH Group describes itself as a global collective of companies delivering value-added services in the automotive industry and related sectors. Manoreporters understands that the visit to Sierra Leone is part of a larger scheme to develop an automotive supply chain in the West Africa subregion.
Seagrave-Sutton, according to the SLIEPA news release, cited the job opportunities for Sierra Leoneans, in addition to the opportunity of supporting industries that already have the potential to produce the targeted components.
This Afreximbank funded project is part of a larger initiative designed to promote the development of the African automotive industry. Afreximbank is collaborating with the African Union and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat to achieve this goal, which include an annual production target of five million cars in Africa.
Currently only about one million units of cars are produced on the continent per year, according to industry data.
Experts say this is too small for a continent with a huge market potential, with an estimated population of about 1.3billion.
Most of the vehicles on the continent are imported, and most of them second-hand.
While imported cars are more affordable to Africans, industry players say it is detrimental to the development of the local sector.
South Africa, Morocco and Egypt are the leading vehicle producers on the continent.
The goal is to expand this manufacturing ability of the continent by establishing the infrastructure in more countries. Nigeria, Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire are some of the West African countries that have been identified as having potential to host vehicle assembling plants.
Other countries, like Sierra Leone, are seen as potential sources of the components.
AIH is charged with identifying these potentials in the region and setting the structures up.
The SLIEPA team, headed by its Chief Executive Officer Sheku Lexmond Koroma, shared with the visitors other automotive components with huge potential to be produced in the country, like tyres, rubber hose, metal and iron parts, due to the availability of the raw materials in the country, like iron ore and bauxite deposits.
According to the SLIEPA release, the AIH team held meetings with some private sector players in the local manufacturing sector with the potential of expanding their operations through production of automotive components.
