OIH sees potential in Africa’s renewables: Orascom Investment Holding’s (OIH) board of directors approved investments in EVs and a trading platform to boost intra-Africa trading and logistics services this week, according to the board’s minutes (pdf). OIH did not disclose the size of investments.

The details: The investment in the electric mobility sector will provide for two and three-wheeler EVs and will launch in Egypt before expanding later in Africa, OIH CEO Marwan Hussein told Enterprise. He said the project was a JV with an unnamed company operating in the country without providing further details. It would launch in 2H 2023, he added.

We knew this was coming: The announcement comes months after OIH Executive Chairman Naguib Sawiris expressed his company’s interest in investing in renewables in Africa and EV charging stations. The Egyptian business mogul showed particular interest in Morocco’s green sub-sectors including EV charging stations and solar plants, saying that OIH is ready to invest up to USD 100 mn over “the coming years.”

REMEMBER- Morocco — which is already a regional automotive powerhouse — has a thriving EV assembly industry with plans to make it bigger. Several global manufacturers produce hundreds of thousands of EVs at assembly facilities in the country. Morocco is targeting the production of around 1 mn EVs in the next three to four years, according to statements by officials last year.