It is more than a year since the President of Ghana, HE Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo, opened the all-new state-of-the-art Nissan automotive assembly plant in Tema, which is a great cause for celebration for the entire country and Africa as a whole.
“The creation of a sustainable African automotive manufacturing industry is a key pillar of Nissan Africa’s approach to the continent along with our Ambition 2030 plan to ensure that we can be the provider of choice of mobility solutions to the continent that is poised to begin finally realising its potential,” says Sherief ElDessouky, Nissan Africa Managing Director.
Africa will soon boast the youngest population; the largest working-age population and the fastest urbanising population on the globe. The continent is regarded as the world’s last automotive frontier because it has the lowest motorisation rate of 42 vehicles per 1000, as opposed to the international average of 182.
Japan Motors brand-new plant, which stands on a 22,407sq m site is the second largest of its kind in the region, but the only one with its own test track and special shower bay. The total investment to date has been in excess of US $18 million when the purchase of supplementary equipment, further innovations and working capital, are all accounted for says Japan Motors Managing Director Salem Kalmoni.
“It’s been worth every cent,” he says, “within the space of a year this plant has become the most visited plant in the region hosting numerous high-level foreign delegations for the government as well as multiple visits by Ghanaian business leaders, other automotive manufacturers and consumers themselves.
“This is because this plant was purposely built to assemble motor vehicles, specifically the Nissan Navara, and because of that it is a state-of-the-art facility. A year since the president of Ghana opened this facility, all of us who work here are filled with an immense sense of pride in what we have achieved and continue to do so.”
In just over a year, the plant has produced 600 Nissan Navaras and created 36 brand new highly technical jobs that never existed in the country beforehand, as well as 23 indirect new jobs. The potential is there to increase both jobs and vehicles should the local and the regional market demand it, says Kalmoni, “this facility could ultimately produce up to 8,000 vehicles a year”.
In its first year, the plant is now ISO 9001 certified, which sets it even further apart. There is also the potential opportunity for it to begin assembling the highly anticipated Navara single cab.
“Japan Motors’ success with this new plant, is proof of what happens when there is an alignment of purpose and collaboration between all stakeholders in the automotive sector and the different operations that comprise Nissan Africa,” says ElDessouky.
“Assembling vehicles that are made in Africa for Africa by Africans is key to ensuring that the continent has the correct sustainable mobility solutions to unlock the potential of the African Century – as well as the benefits of the African Continental Free Trade Area.”
