Mobility staff index drops 7% in April

From the newsletter

The Mobility Rising Staff Index dropped by 7% in April, driven by a major decline in new job hirings compared to March. Our analysis of LinkedIn data shows Africa’s top ten electric mobility companies hired 1,112 senior staff in the 12 months to April 2025, a 17% drop from 1,347 in the period to March 2025. It denotes a slowdown in growth of the nascent EV sector. 

• The index, composed of four key parameters, went down from 274 in March to 255 in April. During the period, the number of EV firms that advertised job openings declined from 22 to 17, while the number of job openings reduced from 88 to 78. The number of senior staff at the top ten firms rose by 2% to 2,830 from 2,766, while their average annual salary remained steady at $82,000.

• Despite the slowdown in senior staff hiring over the past month, the sector has grown rapidly over the past year, leading to a hiring spree for top talent especially in key departments such as engineering, product management, operations and sales. The continent’s leading electric mobility firms have raised millions of dollars in funding during the period to fund their expansion.

More details

• Elon Musk’s Tesla, the world’s leading EV manufacturer, has topped the hiring chart over the past year, employing 752 senior staff during the period. This has brought its total staff count to 1,227. Over the past month alone, the company has hired 36 new staff on the continent, underlining its growth.

• Spiro, the continent’s leading electric motorcycle company, has recorded the second fastest hiring rate. The company, with presence in seven countries, employed 131 senior staff in the 12 months to April 2025, taking its total staff count to 325.

• It was followed by Ampersand, an electric motorcycle company that operates in Rwanda and Kenya. The firm hired 74 senior employees over the one-year period, underlining its rapid growth. The firm now has a total of 218 workers.

• Uganda’s Kiira Motors Corporation, which manufactures electric buses, hired 38 senior staff, while Nigeria’s electric mobility solutions provider Max hired 37. This has increased their workforce to 106 and 428 respectively.

• BasiGo, an electric bus company based in Kenya, hired 31 senior workers, while China’s BYD employed 19 staff on the continent. This has raised their staff count to 98 and 95 respectively. Shift EV, one of Egypt’s largest EV companies, hired seven staff during the period, raising its workforce to 80.

• Roam Electric, an electric motorcycle company based in Kenya, was the outlier. The firm lost seven senior staff during the one-year period, some of them to its fierce rival Spiro. This reduction in the count of senior workers is unusual in the sector where many startups are recording rapid growths.  

Our take

• The construction of new EV manufacturing and assembly plants is causing growing demand for skilled workers in manufacturing, assembly, and quality control. This shift is fostering job opportunities especially in engineering, production, sales and supply chain.

• As African governments introduce new policies regarding EVs, there is a growing need for professionals in policy development, advocacy and compliance. These roles are crucial for shaping the legal and economic framework for EV adoption.

• Despite these opportunities, there is still a shortage of skilled labour in Africa’s rapidly growing EV industry. Addressing these gaps will require significant investment in education and vocational training.