In a series of strategic moves, Musashi Seimitsu Industry, a Japanese Tier 1 auto parts giant, is deepening its involvement in East Africa’s emerging electric vehicle market, betting on a future powered by its components and backed by Japanese government funding.
The company is executing a multi-pronged strategy across Kenya and Ethiopia, combining direct investment in local startups, technology transfer, and high-level governmental engagement to establish its integrated motor units, known as e-axles, as a standard for the region’s electric two- and three-wheelers.
A Growing Wave of Investment
Musashi’s entry into the region began in 2021 with an investment in ARC Ride, a Nairobi-based Battery-as-a-Service infrastructure provider and electric motorcycle manufacturer. The partnership’s core objective is to launch electric motorcycles equipped with Musashi’s e-axle technology in the Kenyan market.
This initiative recently gained further momentum after being selected for a Japanese government subsidy programme, the “Industrial Cooperation Program in the Global South Through Technology Transfer from Japan 2024.” According to Musashi, the project aims to accelerate the rollout of the ARC Ride ecosystem, which includes motorcycles, batteries, swapping stations, and digital services in Nairobi.
The stated goals are to reduce CO2 emissions, improve driver convenience and safety through IoT-managed battery systems, and promote the mass adoption of electric two-wheelers. Musashi made an additional investment in ARC Ride in February 2024 to expand the collaboration, aligning with the Kenyan government’s carbon-neutral transportation policies.
Concurrently, Musashi is replicating this model in Ethiopia. In 2024, the company was a major investor in a $4m Series A round for Dodai, an EV startup based in Addis Ababa. This round brought Dodai’s total funding to $6.2m, one of the largest single rounds for an Ethiopian startup.
The financial backing was quickly followed by a strategic Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Musashi and Dodai.
This move also has significant political backing. Musashi’s CEO, Hiroshi Otsuka, met with the CEO of Ethiopia Investment Holdings (EIH), the government’s sovereign fund, confirming official support for EV adoption. Following this, Dodai and EIH signed an MoU to establish a joint venture aiming to set up 100 battery swap stations in Addis Ababa within 12 months.
A Coordinated Strategy Backed by Tokyo
These East African ventures are not purely commercial adventures for Musashi. The company has been an indirect recipient of subsidies from Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), specifically from a fund dedicated to “Promoting Overseas Infrastructure Expansion by Japanese Companies.” Musashi confirmed it carried out proof-of-concept projects in both Kenya and Ethiopia, with the Kenyan project concluding in February 2025.
To oversee this growing regional footprint, Musashi appointed Naoya Nishimura, a company veteran with over two decades of experience, as CEO for the India and Africa regions in 2024. His stated mandate is to grow the penetration of Musashi’s EV products in these markets.
The Regional Context
The push into East Africa comes as regional governments actively encourage a shift to electric mobility. Kenya is promoting carbon-neutral transport, while Ethiopia has announced plans to import hundreds of thousands of electric automobiles and buses by 2030. An Ethiopian policy allowing duty-free importation of EV parts has already enabled Dodai to reduce its e-bike prices significantly.
Musashi, a global manufacturer with 36 sites worldwide, is known for differential assemblies and transmission gears for traditional and electric vehicles. Its strategy in East Africa represents a pivot towards leveraging this precision engineering for the small-scale electric mobility that dominates developing economies.
By embedding its e-axle technology into the infrastructure of startups like ARC Ride and Dodai, and by aligning its expansion with both local government goals and Japanese industrial policy, Musashi is positioning itself to be an integral, if less visible, component in East Africa’s electric vehicle boom.