Mobility 54 Investment SAS invests in Zembo - engaging in assembly, distribution and battery swap business for electric motorcycles in Uganda.
Nov 11, 2021
Mobility 54 Investment SAS ("Mobility 54") - the corporate venture capital ("CVC") subsidiary of Toyota Tsusho Corporation ("Toyota Tsusho") and CFAO SAS ("CFAO") - decided to invest in Zembo SAS ("Zembo") – engaging in assembly, distribution and battery swap business for electric motorcycles in Uganda.
1. Background
Uganda is one of the most populous countries in Africa (46 million as of 2020) with a rapid urbanisation due partly to the rise of growing middle-income class. The population of its capital, Kampala, is expected to reach 4.1 million by 2024*1, which may further accelerate air pollution and traffic congestion in the urban areas. On the other hand, access to affordable public transport is quite limited in Kampala. Approximately 60% of the citizen use informal motorcycle taxis called “boda boda” to move around the city, and it is a key source of the employment in the transport industry. As boda bodas are playing an important role as a means of convenient transportation for many citizen, the number is expected to grow even further, which may result in a significant impact upon the human health and the global warming arising from the emission gas.
In addition, one of the major social challenges in the Uganda’s mobility industry includes the expensive fuel which is almost the same price as Europe and Japan – shaving the drivers’ income seriously.
The expansion of zero emission motorcycles along with its battery swap network backed by renewable energy is therefore expected to help solve these challenges we are facing in Uganda as well as other markets in Sub-Sahara Africa.
2. About Zembo SAS
Zembo is founded in 2018 with a vision to achieve the carbon neutrality and the improvement of motorcycle taxi drivers’ income in Africa. At present, they are operating in Uganda with the following business units:
Assembly: Importing motorcycle kits and batteries and assembles them locally in Uganda;
Distribution: Selling e-motorcycles to customers directly with a hire purchase leasing option through external financial institutions including Tugende – an asset financing company in Uganda as one of the Mobility 54’s partners;
Battery swap: Building its own battery swap network – currently 21 charging stations with over 10,000 battery swaps per month – backed by solar photovoltaics energy generation at some flagship swap stations. so that they can expand carbon neutral activities by their own renewable energy power generating.
3. Purpose of Investment
Mobility 54’s investment in Zembo envisions to accelerate the carbon neutrality in Africa by electrification of mobility industry. Toyota Tsusho and CFAO group will contribute to deploy Zembo’s business in Africa by leveraging the group’s automotive footprints throughout the continent.
In addition, the group will work with Zembo to generate a series of synergies with its existing businesses and partners – including a potential collaboration with its battery and solar panel businesses.
The group will continue to invest in partners with innovative technologies and services in order to help solve the social and industrial challenges in Africa.
*1 https://worldpopulationreview.com/world-cities/kampala-population