Transforming Africa's Transport: Vision for 2025

The year 2024 was crucial for transport transformation in Africa, marked by a number of remarkable decisions and innovations:

• Ethiopia banned imports of internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles.
• Kigali took a major step by starting to ban ICE motorcycles from public transport.
• Kenya advanced in electric bus manufacturing.
• Senegal launched Africa’s first all-electric Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system in Dakar.
• South Africa explored retrofitting ICE vehicles to EVs.
• Kenya, Malawi, Uganda, Tanzania and Burundi are actively developing national e-mobility policies to accelerate EV adoption.

Beyond policy shifts, 2024 also fostered knowledge exchange and capacity building. The Agora Sustainable Transport Fellowship (Feb 19–Mar 13 and Aug 19–Sep 14) brought together 15 African professionals in Berlin, where they collaborated with global experts to co-create solutions for Africa’s transport challenges.

Could 2025 be the year Africa sees a surge in regional collaboration, bold electric mobility policies, and a boom in EV manufacturing? Will more governments follow Ethiopia and Rwanda's bold moves? As the continent races toward a cleaner, more efficient transport future, the question is no longer if but how fast.

Building on these milestones and what is next for 2025, the Agora Fellowship Alumni proposed a webinar to explore the road ahead: The panel brought together Alumni from across the continent to discuss the ongoing and upcoming African transport transformation.

Moderation:

Byencit Duncan, Sterling Bank, Nigeria

Panelists:

Hilda Nathaniel, City of Windhoek, Namibia

Spencer Taylor Jr, Ministry of Transport, Liberia

Pascal Giki, Africa E-Mobility Alliance (AfEMA), Tanzania

Hend Eltabey, Transport for Cairo (TfC), Egypt