Electric vehicles: Making women frontiers for the future

18 Jul, 2021 - 00:07 0 Views
Electric vehicles: Making women frontiers for the future Agilitee Africa chief executive Dr Mandla Lamba shows some of the women who are part of the executive team that is leading the drive for the manufacture of electric vehicles on the continent.

The Sunday Mail

Bonisile Roberts

RECENTLY, Agilitee Africa, one of the pioneering electric vehicle manufacturers in Africa, was named among the top gender-empowered companies in SADC at the 17th edition of the Standard Bank Top Women Leaders awards.

The criteria considered to determine the awards encompassed evaluating the
percentage of female ownership, shareholding or partnership and female executive directors, the number of female employees, female senior management, female-empowerment company policies as well as
women focused skills development initiatives.

It was encouraging that this nomination came at a time the world is increasingly moving towards electric cars.

To put into perspective how the world is assiduously moving towards electric vehicles, last Wednesday, the European Union proposed measures to signal the end of petrol and diesel car sales within 20 years, and accelerate a switch to electric vehicles.

Under this strategy, the EU wants to help operators that are in the building of public charging stations to facilitate for combustion vehicles to be phased out.

This development in the EU is just, but one example of how the world is moving towards electric vehicles.

In Africa, the drive to adopt electric vehicles is being vigorously pushed by our company, Agilitee Africa, which is setting up a footprint all across the continent, including in Zimbabwe, where we have already identified our partners.

As we continue with this drive, we are cognisant of making sure that women play a crucial role in this revolution.

The former First Lady of the United States of America, Michelle Obama famously said: “There is no limit to what we, as women, can accomplish.”

Also, a famed Ethiopian proverb says that, “Where a woman rules, the stream runs uphill.”

As the drive to promote electric vehicles continues, it is important to put women at the forefront of this initiative.

Electric vehicles are part of the fourth industrial revolution and putting women at the vanguard will be the key to this reformation.

Agilitee Africa is a company that is partly women-owned and predominantly managed by women at executive board level. In total, the staff compliment comprises 67 percent women.

Our chief executive, Dr Mandla Lamba, basically lives empowerment and is passionately committed to the upliftment of women. It is something that is imbedded in our constitution.

We are pioneers in the electric vehicles industry and we are proud that we are surpassing other continents in terms of advancements on electric vehicles.

As it stands, other parts of Europe as well as North and South America are not as advanced as Africa in terms of rolling out electric vehicles.

As women, we are not in the business of electric cars just for the sake of it but we are pushing for justice in the transportation industry in line with the drive to promote green technologies.

It is our duty as women, to ensure that zero emission vehicles are accessible and adored by the whole world.

Electric vehicles are cleaner and safer, and as women, we should be proud to lead this charge.

As Agilitee Africa, our mission is to provide African consumers with a cost-effective, environmentally friendly mode of transport that will intensely reduce air pollution, create employment opportunities, and contribute to the growth of our economies.

 

Bonisile Roberts is the chief operating officer for Agilitee Africa’s headquarters in South Africa.

 

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