The town of Lobatse, some 70 km south of Gaborone in Botswana, has become a vibrant manufacturing centre. Across factory floors, hundreds of skilled hands meticulously assemble intricate wiring harnesses – components that will power Volkswagen and Nissan vehicles, produced on South African assembly lines, for markets across Africa and beyond.

Delta Automotive's skilled workforce crafts precision wiring harnesses that power Volkswagen and Nissan vehicles produced on South African assembly lines.

In the automotive industry, wire harnesses are an intricate arrangement of wires, connectors, and components. They serve as vehicles' central nervous systems, enabling the transmission of electrical signals and power in the automobile.

At Delta Automotive Technologies, strategic financing from the African Development Bank has catalysed a manufacturing renaissance that extends beyond the factory walls. For decades, Botswana's economic history has been written almost exclusively in diamonds. Today, a new chapter is unfolding as the African Development Bank's $80 million credit line to the Botswana Development Corporation (BDC) for businesses in the country fuels Delta Automotive's transformation into a manufacturing hub.

"This funding has built infrastructure – and it's built opportunity," says Darryn Hattingh, Delta’s Director of Manufacturing. "We have built a world-class operation that competes globally and creates opportunity locally. The support enables us to industrialise today's production lines and tomorrow's innovations. It will support us to industrialise future business obtained through Volkswagen.”

In Botswana, Delta Automotive Technologies makes wiring harnesses for Volkswagen's Polo Vivo and Polo 270, and Nissan's H60 brands. It currently makes 120 vehicle harness sets for Volkswagen South Africa per day. By 2027, it aims to create 340 vehicle sets for Volkswagen and 111 for Nissan in South Africa.

Walking through the expansive manufacturing facility, it becomes immediately apparent that in a traditionally male-dominated industry, women's expertise is driving this operation forward. Women make up 75% of Delta's workforce. For Clara Kaekane, a Product and Process Engineer at Delta, the significance goes beyond personal achievement. "Every component we make is a challenge to outdated assumptions about gender and engineering work. Here, I am building car parts – and at the same time I am building a new perception of what is possible for women in manufacturing across Africa.”

Working at the management level in the automotive industry, which is usually male-dominated, Kaekane feels empowered. “This is a great opportunity for our country and this company,” she says.

As it grows its output of vehicle wiring harnesses, Delta is an example of how African manufacturers can excel in precision-demanding global industries.

The African Development Bank's Deputy Director General for Southern Africa, Moono Mupotola, said: "What is happening here is the physical manifestation of our High 5 development priorities, particularly, ‘Industrialise Africa’ and ‘Integrate Africa’. This project also provides skills to the people of Africa. As well as connecting vehicle components, each wire harness connects Botswana's workforce to global value chains, rural communities to industrial opportunities, and traditional economies to a diversified future."

The numbers tell a compelling story. There are 327 employees today, expected to grow to 1 000 within four years. Behind those numbers are families supported, skills developed, and communities transformed. With 95% of the workforce being Botswana nationals, the company has become a major driver of local economic empowerment.

"We're seeing multiple development dividends from this single investment," says Benedicta Abosi of BDC. "Delta's growth is generating export earnings, creating quality jobs, developing technical skills and, perhaps most importantly, demonstrating what is possible when development finance meets entrepreneurial vision."

She explained that five years ago, the Botswana Development Corporation supported multiple businesses, including Delta Automotive Technologies, through an $80 million line of credit facility from the African Development Bank.

A blueprint for African industrial transformation, Delta's success offers a replicable model for industrial development across the continent. By strategically supporting companies integrated into global supply chains, development finance can simultaneously address unemployment, gender inequality, economic diversification, and regional integration.

As workers at Delta Automotive Technologies continue to assemble the components that will power vehicles across the region; they're also creating a template for how African development finance can catalyse inclusive industrial transformation.

“This has definitely been a good investment for the African Development Bank, and this is how we see development financing working in Africa,” Mupotola added.

For more information visit: www.afdb.org