VWSA CEO Martina Biene emerges AAAM President
October 27, 2023342 views0 comments
Martina Biene, Volkswagen Group South Africa’s (VWSA) chairperson and managing director takes over as President of the African Association of Automotive Manufacturers (AAAM).
She took over from Mike Whitfield of Nissan SA who has been the president of the group since July 2020. Mike will remain on the executive of AAAM as the immediate past president.
The AAAM was established in November 2015 with Jeff Nemeth from Ford as the first president and Mike Whitfield as the vice president. It is the only African body focusing on the expansion and deepening of the automotive industry across the continent, by working with governments to shape policies that will attract investors to unlock the economic potential of the continent and align a global network of stakeholders, committed to the development of the Automotive industry in Africa.
During Mike’s tenure at AAAM, a continental automotive strategy and implementation plan was developed in conjunction with the AfCFTA Secretariat, Africa Union (AU), UNECA, Afreximbank and ARSO.
The plan was adopted as a living document by the AfCFTA Council of Ministers at a meeting in Botswana in February 2023. An AfCFTA Automotive Task Force has been formed to oversee, guide and implement this Strategy under the supervision of the council of ministers with the immediate priority to resolve the Rules of Origin.
AAAM’s role and importance in developing the automotive industry has also been recognised by the private sector which has resulted in AAAM’s membership growing from some 17 members in 2020 to the current 63 members.
Martina Biene who is also responsible for the Africa region, has over 20 years of experience in the automotive industry having joined Volkswagen in 2001 where she held multiple roles in the company in sales, marketing, product planning and product marketing for luxury vehicles and the Volkswagen brand in Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, and South Africa.
In 2018, she was appointed as the head of the Volkswagen brand in South Africa whereafter she returned to Germany in 2020 to take up the position of head of small and compact vehicle line up, returning to South Africa in November 2022 to take up her current position.
Martina Biene said that, she became passionate about Africa after completing an internship in Cape Town before joining Volkswagen in Germany. She stated that career allowed her to return to Africa to help with the industrialisation of Africa through the automotive industry which will help to create opportunities and sustainable jobs.
“I am thankful for the work that Mike and the AAAM team have done to date and I am humbled to be able to play a key role through AAAM to grow the automotive manufacturing industry from the 1.1 million vehicles a year today to some 3.5 million or even 5 million by 2035.” said Biene after being voted into her new position by the AAAM.
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3. Embarrassed by ticket racketeering, NRC commences Lagos-Ibadan E-ticketing services
The Nigerian Railway Corporation will this week commence the long-awaited electronic ticketing (e-ticketing) services on the Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge passenger service.
This move follows repeated embarrassing public outcry over ticket racketeering and disciplinary action taken by the management of the corporation against the affected staff according to a statement signed and sent to Business A.M.
This announcement was made by the Managing Director of the Corporation, Fidet Okhiria on Tuesday while fielding questions at the Television Continental (TVC) on Tuesday.
The Corporation boss revealed that the final testing of the ticketing platform will be accomplished today, Wednesday, to ensure all glitches are sorted out before the public can use it.
Okhiria said that with the e-ticketing system, passengers will not have to be present at train stations before they can obtain tickets. He said, that with any internet-enabled device, passengers will be able to buy their tickets at least 48 hours before their proposed departure date.
He mentioned that the e-ticketing system will be in use in the Abuja-Kaduna, Lagos-Ibadan, and Itakpe- Warri rail lines.
“The e-ticketing is the way to go, it is the way to secure our money and our investments because as you buy your tickets it goes to the government coffers directly. We have it in Abuja-Kaduna, and we are also going to have it at Lagos-Ibadan and Itakpe-Warri. By the end of the month, our passengers should start using it,” he said.
Increase in train speed on the Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge
Okhiria also disclosed the intention of the Nigerian Railway Corporation to increase train speed from 40km/hr to 80km/hr on the Lagos-Ibadan Standard Guage.
He stated that since the Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge began operating in 2021, it ran at 40km/hr, which was a far cry from the 150km/hr that the track was originally designed for.
He warned against trading on the track, adding that recurring announcements would be made at various train stations in Lagos to ensure the populace is adequately sensitized to the increased train speed.