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Egyptian Automotive Aftermarket Enters Fast Lane

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Egyptian Automotive Aftermarket Enters Fast Lane

Egypt’s automotive aftermarket is accelerating and has been dubbed “one of Africa’s most exciting markets” as its motoring population and vehicle sales grow, its economy expands, FDI floods in, and the government moves to combat automotive emissions.

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It’s a powerful combination which Germany’s Africa business experts africon GmbH, the knowledge partners of Automechanika Dubai, the Middle East and Africa’s largest international automotive aftermarket trade show, contends has resulted in an aftermarket now worth between US $1-2 billion. And africon GmbH should know, having worked on more than 30 automotive market projects across Africa in the last few years.

The company has now turned its expertise specifically on the high potential Egyptian market with a whitepaper collated from research among companies within the Arab republic’s automotive industry.

Opportunity Rising:

The paper’s positive and opportunistic sentiment points to the country’s rising population – now the third largest within Africa with more than 100 million people – and its economic advancement, having overtaken South Africa as the continent’s second-largest economy with a GDP of US $360 billion and sturdy growth forecasts.

“The IMF predicts that growth will slow to around 2.5% this year but recover to more than 5% from 2022 forward,” the paper reports. “After economically difficult years in 2016/17, inflation has come down to around 6%. Unemployment has been reducing, and GDP per capita in US$ terms has increased by almost 50% since 2017. Consequently, Egypt has been the largest recipient of FDI in Africa for several years in a row, receiving more than $9 billion worth of investments in 2019 and almost $6 billion in 2020. This growth is driven, among other things, by continuous economic and fiscal reforms. For instance, on the Ease of Doing Business Index, Egypt has improved by 14 places since 2018.”

Egypt is now in growth mode, even despite the rigors of the COVID-19 pandemic and was among the few countries to report full year GDP growth in 2020.

Growth Market:

The growth has fed into the aftermarket, with the country now being home to one of Africa’s largest vehicle fleets with around six million vehicles on the country’s roads, with the majority – approximately 4.6 million – being passenger cars. This is followed by almost a million trucks and about 470,000 buses. Most passenger cars are petrol-powered, while many commercial vehicles rely on diesel engines but that could soon change.

“The government is increasing the share of dual-fuel cars, which can use both petrol and compressed natural gas (CNG). Around 300,000 vehicles in Egypt already use CNG. This number will likely increase further over the next years,” the paper reports.

Egypt is also taking bold steps to replace internal combustion engines with more environmentally friendly alternatives. Last year the government announced an initiative to encourage consumers to replace old vehicles for new ones operating on CNG engines with extended credit facilities among its green program incentives. This has led to China’s Dongfeng Motors planning to assemble up to 25,000 electric vehicles a year in an Egyptian assemble plant.

Even the brand make-up of the country’s vehicle fleet is changing. The significant market shares held by Chevrolet/Isuzu, Hyundai, Toyota, and Nissan could be eroded by the entry of European and Chinese brands fueled by preferential import duties.

“New vehicle sales in Egypt have recently grown, currently standing at more than 200,000 units per year. Around half of this figure is assembled locally. Egypt is home to notable local vehicle assemblers like GB Auto, General Motors Egypt / Mansour Automotive, and Nissan. While most passenger vehicles are produced for the domestic market, many buses are exported to regional markets,” explains the whitepaper.

Change The Name of the Game:

Change is also coming to Egypt’s heavily import-driven aftermarket, which is dominated by Asian suppliers, namely China, Korea, and Japan. However, Germany and the US now rank among the country’s top ten suppliers of parts and components and globally leading brands enjoy relatively high market shares for crucial parts. But the local component manufacturing market is gaining ground and supplying local vehicle assemblers, the aftermarket and export markets with a range of batteries, brake parts, wiring and filets.

Egypt’s importer/distributor landscape is a mix of small and large companies, most of which are based in Cairo. The independent aftermarket is fragmented. The importers/distributors sell directly to end-users, workshops, and a network of wholesalers and retailers across the country. As is the case in other African markets, a significant share of Egyptians, having taken the advice of trusted mechanics, buy their parts from retailers instead of from workshops. However, most do follow the advice of their trusted mechanics.

The Trend & Outlook:

E-commerce is fast emerging as a significant aftermarket force through highly visible platforms such as Odiggo, Tawfiqia, Egyparts and Amazon Egypt.

The Egyptian aftermarket is ripe for growth and to offer up great opportunities for parts producers, distributors, and service providers, but increasing competition from local producers may mean overseas suppliers will need to invest in their own on-the-ground structures or seek out ways to add value locally to increase market shares.

GB Auto, a leading Egyptian automotive supplier, sums up the expected scenario: “We currently see three factors strongly influencing the future of our market in Egypt: firstly, we are expecting a period of robust growth across various industry segments. Secondly, online sales will likely gain significant importance. Thirdly, the share of CNG-powered vehicles increasing further, which will open up new industry segments and growth opportunities,” explained Mohamed Yahia, Managing Director of Ready Parts (GB Auto Group).

Others looking for indicators of the growth potential can track the Egyptian visitor presence at Automechanika Dubai which has risen by 20% since 2015.

“We anticipate a surge in visitors from Egypt when the show returns from December 14th-16th December. This year we have the support and presence of Egypt Expo & Convention Authority (EECA) and have also seen a 142% y-o-y (2019-2021) increase in floor space taken from Egyptian businesses – a true testament to current conditions and the appetite for doing business,” commented Mahmut Gazi Bilikozen, Automechanika Dubai’s Show Director.

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Shoreline Group secures US$200 million Afreximbank Facility

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Shoreline Group today announced that African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has approved a US$200 million facility in favour of Shoreline Power Company Limited and co-borrowers including Arkad S.p.A., Shoreline’s majority-owned engineering and construction platform.
Approved in June 2026, the facility was arranged and provided by Afreximbank as sole mandated lead arranger and lender. It provides bonding and working-capital capacity for Arkad’s delivery of the Hassi Bir Rekaiz project and supports Shoreline and its affiliates in developing further pipeline and infrastructure
projects in Nigeria and other permitted jurisdictions.
“This is a defining transaction for Shoreline and Arkad. We built Arkad as an African- sponsored engineering platform capable of competing at the highest level, and it is now delivering against a billion-dollar energy contract. Afreximbank’s US$200 million commitment gives the platform the financial strength to match its engineering capability and pursue further major infrastructure mandates. It demonstrates that African enterprises can assemble the capital, capability and partnerships required to compete for infrastructure at international scale.”
Hassi Bir Rekaiz Phase 2a Arkad holds 44 per cent of the approximately US$1 billion EPCCS-1 contract awarded by Groupement
Hassi Bir Rekaiz (GHBR) to an unincorporated consortium led by Egypt’s Petrojet, which holds 56 percent. EPCCS-1 covers engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning and start-up for the Phase 2a central processing facility and related infrastructure at the Hassi Bir Rekaiz field in Algeria’s Berkine
Basin.
GHBR is the joint operating entity for the licence, held by Sonatrach with 51 per cent and Thailand’s PTTEP with 49 per cent. The project includes a new crude oil processing facility with capacity of 31,500 barrels per day, facilities for associated gas and produced-water treatment, approximately 217 kilometres
of pipelines and the brownfield modifications required to integrate existing Phase 1 infrastructure.
The facilities are designed to support later expansion to 63,000 barrels per day under Phase 2b.
“This financing addresses the instruments that determine whether an EPC contractor can execute at scale: performance guarantees, advance payment guarantees and working capital through the project cycle. Hassi Bir Rekaiz is a demanding scope, combining a new central processing facility, associated treatment systems, pipelines and brownfield integration. With Petrojet, and with the support of Shoreline and Afreximbank, Arkad is focused on disciplined delivery against the project’s safety, quality and schedule requirements.”
The transaction was structured under Afreximbank’s Engineering, Procurement and Construction Initiative, which supports African engineering and construction firms with the financial instruments required to compete for and execute large infrastructure contracts. Afreximbank also supported the Arkad-Petrojet partnership through its EPC twinning work at the Intra-African Trade Fair held in Algiers
in 2025.
According to Afreximbank, the transaction is its first support for a Sub-Saharan African contractor undertaking a major infrastructure project in North Africa. For Shoreline, it demonstrates a practical model for combining African ownership and capital with established international engineering andindustrial capability.

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BUSINESSWOMAN AISHA ACHIMUGU SPEAKS OUT, CALLS FOR PROTECTION OF LIFE AND RESPECT FOR RULE OF LAW

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Nigerian businesswoman and investor Aisha Achimugu has made a public appeal for the protection of her life, her family, and her business interests while alleging a sustained campaign of intimidation, media trial, and asset seizures.

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Achimugu, in a statement Tuesday, said she is facing actions that she described as an affront to the rule of law and natural justice.
She then called for the respect for court orders and for an end to what she termed misleading media coverage about her person and companies.
According to Achimugu, the widow of the late Engr. Sulaiman Achimugu, former Managing Director of the Pipelines and Product Marketing Company, PPMC, she has over the last three decades built businesses in the oil and gas and other sectors, and runs the SAM Empowerment Foundation, SEF, which she said has implemented health, education, and community projects across Nigeria.
The businesswoman, however, alleged that since 2023 she has been the subject of investigations and actions by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
Narrating her ordeals, Achimugu noted that in 2023, the EFCC’s Port Harcourt zonal office froze her personal accounts, her children’s accounts, and company accounts linked to the Felak Group, based on an interim forfeiture order.
She said this was connected to a mistaken association with MBA Forex and Capital Investment.
Achimugu stated that in January 2024 she honoured an EFCC invitation with her counsel, clarified her company’s single transaction with MBA Forex, and refunded N58 million by bank draft to the EFCC recovery account.
In March 2025, the businesswoman said she received WhatsApp messages inviting her to the EFCC Port Harcourt office. Her lawyer responded in writing, proposing dates in April 2025. Despite this, she alleged a media campaign began on March 10, 2025 linking her to wrongdoing.
On March 28, 2025, the same day her company, Oceangate Oil & Gas Limited, submitted proof of $20 million payment to NUPRC for oil blocks PPL 302-DO and PPL 3007, subsequently, she claimed the EFCC declared her a “Wanted Person” for “conspiracy and money laundering.” She also alleged that EFCC operatives searched her home that day.
In April 2025, Achimugu said she filed a fundamental rights suit at the Federal High Court, Abuja. But upon returning to Nigeria on April 28, 2025 from a foreign trip, she alleged she was taken into EFCC custody, granted bail by a judge, but released five days later. She also said her international passport was collected.
She alleged further asset actions, including freezing of bank accounts, and the seizure of vehicles from her home in January 2026. She said matters relating to these actions are the subject of ongoing litigation and appeals.
Achimugu also alleged that her United States visa was revoked in April 2025, and that she encountered issues with visa processing related to her Grenadian citizenship, which she linked to media reports citing the EFCC’s declaration.
Achimugu stated that she has invested nearly $90 million in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector in the last five years and has attracted over $100 million in investments into the economy while directly employs close to 200 Nigerians.
However, she said the actions of the anti-graft agency have affected her business operations, international partnerships, and family, including her elderly parents and young children.
Achimugu then called on the National Assembly, the Judiciary, security services, and local and international human rights organizations to examine her case.
She also asked for the protection of her life and properties, respect for court orders, and an end to what she described as a “media trial”.
“I believe that justice delayed is justice denied, and I am not afraid to face the law provided due process is followed. My lawyers are pursuing all legal remedies locally and internationally,” she said.
Achimugu added that she remains committed to Nigeria and to supporting private sector growth.

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Nigeria’s Credit Crisis: Why Firms Still Struggle for Loans

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Nigeria’s Credit Crisis deepens as businesses struggle with high lending rates, weak bank credit access and government borrowing despite falling inflation (more…)

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