Africa is not one mobility market.
Africa is not a single market. Cities, economies, energy systems, transport networks and institutions differ across and within countries.
Mobility solutions must be designed for specific markets, cities and people.
by IMA
Africa should not have to borrow the blueprint for its mobility future.
Africa is urbanising, growing and changing rapidly. But much of the transport infrastructure supporting that growth was designed for a different era.
The opportunity is not to replicate mobility systems built elsewhere. It is to learn from the world, design for African realities and build what comes next.
The African Mobility Thesis sets out IMA’s perspective on the principles that should shape Africa’s mobility future.
Africa is not a single market. Cities, economies, energy systems, transport networks and institutions differ across and within countries.
Mobility solutions must be designed for specific markets, cities and people.
Europe, Asia, and North America offer valuable lessons, including what did not work. But Africa starts from a different place. Leapfrogging is not replicating the end state faster. It is choosing a better pathway.
Electric vehicles are only one part of electrification. Charging, energy, finance, regulation, procurement, operations and maintenance must work together.
The question is not simply how quickly Africa can adopt EVs. It is whether it can build the systems around them.
Mobility shapes productivity, access, competitiveness and quality of life. The sustainable African city is not one that simply replaces petrol vehicles with substitutes. It is one that moves people and goods safely, affordably and efficiently.
High-utilisation fleets such as buses, taxis, delivery vehicles and municipal vehicles can provide an early pathway to electrification. They can also create demand for the infrastructure, finance and energy systems needed to scale. Electric fleets can help build the market around them.
Minibuses, motorcycles, three-wheelers and taxis are fundamental to how many African cities move. They are also livelihoods. The transition must improve the existing mobility economy, not simply replace it.
A charging model that works in London may not work in Lagos, Nairobi or Kigali. Grid reliability, climate, utilisation, land, financing, maintenance and energy access all matter. Infrastructure must be designed for how African cities actually operate.
Africa does not lack mobility ideas. The challenge is turning them into investable, scalable projects. Technology alone does not create a viable project. If it cannot be financed, it cannot scale.
Roads, railways, charging networks and electricity systems matter. So do the institutions that plan, regulate, finance and deliver them. Who owns the problem, controls the budget and is accountable for delivery matters as much as the physical asset.
Decarbonisation matters. But it goes beyond that. Mobility exists to connect people to jobs, education, healthcare, markets and opportunity. The measure of progress is not simply fewer emissions. It is better lives and more productive cities.
African countries should not have to borrow the blueprint for their mobility future.
They can learn from the world and build for their individual realities. They can adopt technology without importing assumptions. They can improve existing systems while building what comes next.
The opportunity is not to build a cleaner version of yesterday’s transport system.
It is to build something better.
That is the African Mobility Thesis.