In this compelling episode of the Allen Dreyfus Frontier Markets Podcast, host Kent Mensah sits down with Martina Biene, the Chairperson and Managing Director of Volkswagen Group Africa, for a rare, wide-ranging conversation about the continent’s automotive transformation – from cleaner fuels and regional integration to sustainable mobility and industrial growth.
Biene, who oversees Volkswagen’s operations across Africa, shares her unfiltered insights into why fuel quality is one of Africa’s most urgent but overlooked development challenges. She explains how high sulphur content and poor fuel standards are not only damaging advanced vehicle engines but also stifling the introduction of cleaner, more efficient technologies that could significantly cut carbon emissions across the continent.
From Ghana’s quiet progress on improving fuel standards to Rwanda’s EU4 fuel depot and Kenya’s strides in clean energy compliance, Biene offers an insider’s look at how governments and manufacturers are collaborating to raise the bar. She praises Ghana’s leadership in crafting an automotive policy that could anchor the country as Volkswagen’s West Africa hub, calling on policymakers to finalise the last few legislative steps needed to unlock faster growth and investor confidence.
The discussion also delves into Africa’s energy transition, as Biene cautions that the continent’s push toward electric mobility must align with local realities—grid capacity, access to electricity, and affordability. She argues that hybrid vehicles may be Africa’s more practical short-term path toward reducing emissions.
Listeners will also hear how Volkswagen’s shared mobility model in Rwanda – where rides in a Volkswagen can cost as little as $2 – is reshaping access to affordable transport and inspiring plans for expansion into Ghana. Biene’s passion for the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) also shines through, as she underscores its transformative potential to scale local manufacturing and create a truly continental auto industry.
From spare parts logistics to engineering training partnerships, this episode explores Volkswagen’s long-term commitment to Africa – built, as Biene says, on “German engineering with an African heart.”
