Staff Writer 
How Mobility for Africa is powering inclusive development
ZIMBABWE’S growing focus on climate-smart industrialisation, renewable energy, and inclusive rural development is attracting pioneering investments capable of reshaping the country’s economic landscape.
Among the most notable examples is Mobility for Africa, a Zimbabwean social enterprise leveraging electric mobility and productive-use energy systems to transform rural livelihoods while contributing to the country’s green economy ambitions.
Founded by Shantha Bloemen and the late Felicity Tawengwa, Mobility for Africa operates at the intersection of electric mobility, renewable energy, agriculture, and rural enterprise development. The company has developed an integrated model combining electric tricycles, battery systems, charging infrastructure, renewable energy applications, and productive-use services supporting agriculture, healthcare delivery, local government services, transport, and community enterprises.
The company’s expansion reflects Zimbabwe’s broader efforts to position itself as a competitive destination for sustainable and climate-aligned investment. Through investment facilitation, investor support mechanisms, and the creation of a more transparent and enabling business environment, the Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency (Zida) continues to play a critical role in supporting emerging sectors such as renewable energy, electric mobility, climate innovation, and green manufacturing.
According to Bloemen, investor confidence remains central to scaling long-term investments in emerging industries. She noted that Zida’s facilitation role, particularly in helping create a more enabling investment environment and supporting assurances around foreign currency repatriation and investor protection, remains important in attracting international capital into climate innovation sectors.
Mobility for Africa has already recorded significant operational milestones demonstrating the viability of Zimbabwe’s rural e-mobility ecosystem. The company has deployed more than 300 electric tricycles across eight rural sites servicing last-mile transport needs within a 30-kilometre radius.
In addition, the enterprise established Zimbabwe’s first certified electric tricycle and battery management system assembly plant and currently employs approximately 30 staff responsible for assembly, testing, maintenance, and impact monitoring.
Beyond mobility deployment, the company has invested heavily in innovation and infrastructure development. Key achievements include the development of bespoke modular smart battery systems adaptable for mobility, productive-use assets, and energy storage applications; the creation of mini-grid charging station models; and the deployment of digital management systems capable of monitoring tricycles, batteries, energy usage, customer management, and social impact metrics in remote rural communities.
The enterprise has also played an active role in Zimbabwe’s policy and industrial development ecosystem. Mobility for Africa successfully lobbied for statutory instrument provisions granting import duty exemptions on electric tricycle knockdown kits. It contributed towards the drafting of Zimbabwe’s emerging electric vehicle policy and long-term roadmap.
Importantly, the company’s investment model demonstrates the wider developmental potential of green technologies beyond environmental sustainability alone. Social inclusion, gender empowerment, and rural economic participation remain central pillars of the project. The enterprise intentionally prioritises rural women farmers and entrepreneurs, many of whom have experienced increased household incomes, improved market access, strengthened business activity, and enhanced economic independence through access to electric mobility solutions.
Skills development has equally become a core component of the company’s long-term strategy. Together with vocational institutions, Mobility for Africa piloted Zimbabwe’s first electric vehicle semi-skilled worker training programme focused on three-wheel electric mobility systems. Significantly, women accounted for more than half of the inaugural training cohort, reinforcing the company’s commitment to gender inclusion within the green economy transition.
The company’s innovation model has also attracted growing international recognition. Mobility for Africa received recognition as a nominee for the prestigious Earthshot Prize, further validating Zimbabwe’s growing potential within Africa’s climate innovation ecosystem.
Looking ahead, Mobility for Africa aims to expand operations into regional markets, including Zambia and Malawi, while growing charging infrastructure networks, productive-use energy systems, and local assembly capabilities. The company’s broader ambition is to position Zimbabwe as a continental hub for rural productive-use energy innovation and electric mobility solutions that can scale across Southern and Eastern Africa.
As Zimbabwe continues to implement investment reforms and strengthen its climate-smart industrialisation agenda, projects such as Mobility for Africa demonstrate how innovation, sustainable infrastructure, and investment facilitation can collectively contribute to inclusive economic transformation, rural industrial development, and long-term green growth.
