The richest square-mile in Africa was experiencing another round of crippling load-shedding when I arrived at Volkswagen SA’s Sandton headquarters to meet the new chair and MD of the company, Martina Biene.She previously worked in the country from 2018-2020 as VWSA’s h
The power outages have formed a big part of challenges she’s faced during the first few months of her tenure, which began on November 1 2022. Load-shedding, along with semiconductor shortages that continue to plague all original equipment manufacturers , affect the local company’s productivity. It therefore requires a stopgap model, which also speaks to the company’s expansion plans into the rest of Africa with its less strict emissions protocols. This model is earmarked for the African, South American and Indian markets specifically.