African entrepreneurs are refusing to be left out in the automotive industry. After years of purchasing cars outside the continent, the trend has changed as some local engineers have taken advantage of technological advancements to venture into the car manufacturing business.
Countries like Uganda, Nigeria and Ghana have already taken the lead in that regard. The wonderful thing is that some of these homegrown cars are designed for the rough terrain in Africa and are very affordable.
Ajayi Joshua Oluwatobi is a Nigerian entrepreneur building such vehicles for a market that has been dominated by Toyotas and Hyundais. He is behind Nord, one of Nigeria’s first indigenous automakers assembling affordable but durable cars made to compete with foreign brands. Besides Nigeria, Nord has already sold vehicles in Ghana, Ivory Coast, and Egypt.
Born in 1988, his journey began in Nigeria Navy School, where he completed his Primary and Secondary education. He went on to study Soil Sciences and Farm Mechanisation at the Olabisi Onabanjo University before recently completing his Masters of Business Administration, MBA at the Lagos Business School, Pan-Atlantic University, Nigeria.
From social sciences, his journey into the automotive industry began during his National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) posting with Mercedes-Benz Nigeria. He was retained after his service year, and his hard work helped him rise through the ranks in the Van division.
He was able to grow the market share of Mercedes-Benz vans from less than 1% to 7% from 2013 to 2015. His success at the company also earned him the Mercedes-Benz Best Sales Performance for Africa in 2013.
Following a trip to Mercedes-Benz factories in Europe and Asia, Oluwatobi realized that Africans or Nigerians in particular can also achieve success by building their own car brands. In April 2015, Oluwatobi, alongside some investors, started Jetvan Automobiles Limited to “take the Mercedes-Benz vans sales and after-sales to the next level,” according to this report.
But in 2016 when Nigeria entered a recession, things became difficult for Oluwatobi as he started losing customers.
“We were selling luxury vehicles. Suddenly, no one could afford them,” he told Business Insider Africa. “Customers who once bought new buses were now stuck repairing old ones. At one point, I feared losing everything. I knew I had to find an alternative.”
That alternative became Nord. Before starting the brand, he sketched out prototypes, and asked a German firm to help refine the designs. He then traveled to Thailand and China to get a supplier for the bodies of the vehicles that would match what he was looking for in a vehicle. In 2018, the first Nord vehicle rolled out of the assembly line.
“We are building a company that gives Nigerians world-class vehicles at globally competitive prices,” he explained. “A car that retails for about $16,000 in Japan or the U.S. often sells for $45,000 in Nigeria. Nigerians deserve better.”
Nord recently announced that Nigerians can now buy its entry-level, brand-new EV for ₦16 million (about $11,000).
And amid concerns about originality, durability and capacity related to locally-made vehicles, Nord “relies on a network of suppliers for parts that are then assembled locally,” Business Insider Africa reported.
Between 32% and 40% of Nord’s components are already produced in Nigeria, including grills and plastic fittings, Nord stressed.
The company can assemble about 20,000 cars a year at the moment, but with sufficient demand, that figure could rise to 100,000 units. Currently, Nord has two plants in Lagos, Nigeria: a 2,100m² (0.518921 acres) facility in Sangotedo, where all eight models are assembled, and a 5,400m² (1.3343691 acres) factory being built in Epe.
Still, this is nowhere near what Nigeria needs, a country that is the third-largest importer of vehicles from the U.S. Figures cited by the Insider show that the country’s annual vehicle demand is around 720,000 units.
But Oluwatobi’s focus is not really about the numbers. “We want to be the company Africans can look to and say, ‘Because of Nord, my dream of owning a brand-new car has been achieved,’” he said.
