The Mobility for Africa Fund: Building the Rural Green Mobility sector

EDITORIAL Shantha Bloemen, MFA CEO
As the planting season begins and we wait for the rains to start in Southern Africa, the reality of climate change looms large. For small scale farmers dependent on rain fed agriculture, there is no guarantee that sounds of thunder signalling rain, will fall on their field. And then if the rains do come, the fear is it comes as a heavy downfall, causing floods and havoc on crops.

The consequences of global warming for farmers impacts on all our lives. Failure of agriculture, the largest source of productivity and employment across the continent, increases the rates of people moving to cities searching for jobs that do not exist; shortages of food lead to hunger; anger and social unrest; and environmental degradation further contributes to hardship and worsening climate outcomes.

As a rural mobility solutions company working with small-scale farmers, Mobility for Africa is acutely aware of these realities and uncertainties for our customers. We also know that the potential of green energy can be a game changer. It can unlock transport solutions for rural farmers to get seed and fertiliser to their fields, carry their harvest to a market to boost the value of the goods they grow, and improve their quality of life, especially for rural women who bear the brunt of heavy lifting and walking long distances.

The transition to an inclusive green economy that unlocks the enormous potential of small-scale farmers cannot happen organically. We must make fast, strategic and big investments that are tailored to local conditions. In our experience in Zimbabwe, we know this cannot just be a private sector-led investment. Instead, we need to work with governments to have the right policy, learning institutions to build the skills, and farmers themselves to be guided by their needs.

To be part of this transition and move the talk to action, we have set up the Mobility for Africa Fund, a registered charitable organisation in the US. This will allow us to raise philanthropic funds to invest in building this ecosystem and work with other like-minded partners in this space. We believe that this will help us contribute our knowledge and experience to grow the rural green mobility industry in Africa. It will allow us to contribute to concrete climate mitigation and resilience by allowing us to expand our services to underserved communities.

Funds raised will be used to grow the evidence base by investing in research and technology transfer, by developing low skill training and investing in putting rural women in the driver seat so they not once again bypassed from the transport sector.

To find out more or donate, please go to the Fund website. Mobility for Africa has had a busy 2023, please see some of our highlights below from the second half. We look forward to your continued collaboration and support in 2024!

Your donation will help unlock potential, create the greatest social impact, and make sure women are not bypassed by the advent of the electric vehicle revolution.

Donate here

MOBILITY FOR AFRICA FUND DIRECTOR

We’re very excited to announce ZANELE SIBANDA as Director of the Mobility for Africa Fund. Zanele has worked in the philanthropic industry for 20 years. As a Zimbabwean American, she has a deep understanding of the challenges that African women face and is committed to enhancing the capacity of individuals, organisations, and communities working toward social justice.

Zanele brings a wealth of experience in America working for various foundations, high-net-worth individuals and organisations.

Media & Awards

Planning a Hamba-lution feature in PV Magazine Global by Max Hall highlighting how Mobility for Africa is decarbonising the transport industry and planning to expand, to bring the e-mobility revolution to all Rural women on the continent.

Published Hambas for Health Summary findings from our trial of the Hambas in the health sector in Wedza and Igava. Long distances in rural Africa still mean women die in childbirth because they never reach a health clinic with a trained professional. Approximately 4-5 women are transported via the Hamba to Igava clinic for delivery each month and the number of home births is now a negligible amount.

Our CEO, Shantha Bloemen’s mantra is “Mobility is the best productive use of energy, especially for rural women” which was reinforced by our AFSIA Productive Use Application of the Year Award!

We were delighted to be recognised as an Ashden Award Finalist and Runner Up in the category of powering agriculture. Working with small-scale farmers and providing a green, renewable energy-powered solution for last/first-mile mobility is at the core of what we do. Find out more

Team Updates

Board Member: Extremely excited to announce Duduzile K Shinya. as our new board member. She has over 25 years in both the private and public sector gaining accomplished excellence in accounting, financial, business and strategic leadership in Zimbabwe. Dudu has Held various board positions in leading Zimbabwean companies such as Innscor Africa, Hippo Valley Estates and CABS Zimbabwe Boards.

Last Mufoya |Data Analytics Expert was welcomed to the team in September and has gone straight into the action. We’re looking forward to, under Last’s guidance, harnessing and perfecting the wealth of data we are collecting and packaging!

Talented Young Interns: It’s great that we get to harness passionate, young talent to help deliver our vision!

New Site Technicians: As we expand, we are continuing to create ‘green jobs’ and employment in rural communities as we recruit directly from surrounding areas to our sites for technicians to perform battery swaps, monitor charging apparatus and service the Hamba among several other tasks.

In Action

5th-8th September, Africa Climate Summit and spokes:

Movin’On Connect “Ensuring Universal Access to Mobility as African Countries Embrace E-mobility”. Shantha spoke on the gap between rural and urban mobility and e-mobility infrastructure in rural Africa.

On KBC News Shantha explained that “Young people have a clear vision for their future, and we need to start listening to them, and give them the tools and skills they need to navigate this [clean energy] transition”
Full interview at 37 minutes.

International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) Panel. Shantha answered how renewable energy can be used to transform rural mobility and how we can ensure large-scale adoption of renewably powered transport.

Zambia Scoping Early September: Shantha Bloemen, CEO and Amelia Wilson, Communications attended the Zambia Impact Investment Summit in September. It was organised by Anglo American who Mobility for Africa have been receiving hands-on practical advice under their Sustainable Investment Initiative.

Domboshava & Factory Visits:

AECF showcase forum event took place in October with a half-day site visit to their selected investee - MFA!

EEP Africa and their Donors visited our new Office and Hamba and Battery Assembly space in Msasa, Harare before travelling to Domboshava for a ride in the Hamba and Transport and Logistics Award Ceremony 🏆

Swiss Embassy in Zimbabwe

In September, Zimbabwean Comedian Carl Ncube visited our site at Domboshava to film a video for the Swiss Embassy in Zimbabwe. EEP Africa and InfraCo Africa, supported by the Swiss Government, have been crucial in propelling our project development across both our Domboshava and Chipinge sites.

Watch the short comedy-style video here

9th September Celebrating World EV Day our investors, InfraCo Africa shared this video highlighting their impact to support our scaling of EV in rural Zimbabwe!

21st-23rd September Lisa Mare, our Policy & Partnerships Consultant, attended the Victoria Falls Agriculture Show and Multicultural Food Festival. The theme “Revolutionising Rural Lifestyles - Upgrading African Economies” showcased MFA’s core focus: innovative ideas and solutions to improve agricultural productivity and sustainability.

An exciting opportunity at the Battery Metals Forum to presentthe importance of building an ecosystem, practical skills, hardware and policy to support the transition to a green transport sector.

25th - 27th October Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries Annual Congress invited us to exhibit amongst prevalent Zimbabwean Industries. We had the honour of hosting Hon. Dr. Sithembiso G. g Nyoni, Minister of Industry and Commerce and Ambassador of the EU delegation at our stand.

20th November for the launch of the report “Unleashing Africa’s Untapped Potential for Environmental Goods Manufacturing” Shantha spoke on a webinar to highlight MFAs support in leveraging cross-cultural knowledge exchange and Chinese technology in the EV space to build new, sustainable and green economies.

20th-22nd November Yunong Wu, MFA Strategic Partnerships and Research, spoke on a panel discussing China-Africa Reporting at the African Investigative Journalism Conference (AIJC) hosted by WITS University.

23rd-24th November Amelia Wilson, MFA Communications & Investor Relations, attended the Africa Summit on Entrepreneurship and Innovation (ASENTI) to explore collaboration and strategic partnership in capacity and skill-building in the renewable sector.