Two of Africa’s leading electric mobility companies, Spiro and Ampersand, have announced major leadership changes within the space of a week, signaling a shift in strategic priorities as the sector moves from rapid expansion to sustainable scaling.

On June 9, 2026, Spiro, one of Africa’s largest electric motorcycle and battery-swapping startups, appointed Anant Badjatya as its inaugural Group Chief Executive Officer. The appointment comes just days after the company secured a $215 million equity raise, one of the largest capital raises ever secured by an African mobility company. Badjatya, who previously served as CEO of IndoFast Energy, a joint venture between IndianOil and SUN Mobility, brings extensive experience building large-scale battery-swapping networks in India, one of the world’s most advanced battery-swapping markets.

He joins Spiro with more than two decades of leadership experience across India, the Middle East and Africa, having built and scaled businesses across electric mobility, energy and industrial sectors. At IndoFast Energy, he oversaw the development of a network of over 1,800 battery-swapping stations serving about 90,000 vehicles daily.

Badjatya takes over from Kaushik Burman, who had served as Group CEO since 2023 and will now lead the company’s mobility services business, overseeing electric vehicle deployment, rider leasing programmes, battery subscription services and fleet operations. The restructuring creates a clearer separation between Spiro’s rider-facing transport business and its broader ambitions in energy infrastructure, logistics and vehicle manufacturing.

“The new Group CEO will oversee a broad mandate covering battery swapping, leasing, logistics, energy solutions, and vehicle manufacturing, as the company accelerates its push to expand clean and affordable transport solutions across Africa,” the company said in a statement.

Founder and Chairman Gagan Gupta described Badjatya as someone who would help consolidate strategic initiatives and guide the company through its next chapter of growth and execution across mobility, energy and tech.

Spiro currently operates in seven African markets, including Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Benin, Togo, Cameroon and Nigeria. The company has deployed more than 100,000 electric motorcycles and built a battery-swapping network exceeding 2,500 stations, covering more than one billion electric-powered kilometres.

Industry analysts see the leadership transition as a sign that the company is moving from rapid market entry to large-scale execution. “While the company has already built a sizeable footprint, the next challenge is turning that presence into a sustainable and profitable mobility ecosystem,” said a tech analyst at Launch Base Africa.

At the same time, across the continent, another e-mobility pioneer is undergoing its own leadership transition. Josh Whale, founder and CEO of Ampersand, announced he would hand over the CEO title to Michael Barton, the company’s Executive Board Chair, as part of a strategic move to scale operations. Whale will remain with the company as Founder and Chief Innovation and Customer Officer.

Michael Barton, who has been Executive Chair at Ampersand since October 2025, has a background in leading high-performing technology businesses through scaling stages. The company, which was founded in Kigali in 2016, now has more than 500 employees and operations in Rwanda and Kenya. With nearly 10,000 customers, the company says its proven model scales profitably, delivering a 50 per cent saving over fuel and three-minute battery swaps.

“Ampersand is no longer a startup,” Whale wrote on LinkedIn, explaining the decision. He noted that the market question is now “not if, but how well” electrification will proceed across Africa’s motorcycle transport sector, which is estimated to have more than 30 million petrol-powered riders on the continent.

Whale, who first began engaging with boda riders in Kigali over a decade ago, will now focus on customer centricity, ensuring customers have a direct voice in management and board decisions. He described the move as doubling down on the company’s core strengths in quality, durability and reliability.

Barton, who will take on the CEO role, has deep experience in e-mobility and strategic leadership, having worked to advance Ampersand’s growth in sub-Saharan Africa since joining as Executive Chair.

The back-to-back leadership changes at two of the continent’s leading mobility startups are not coincidental. They reflect a broader pattern as African e-mobility companies reach a critical juncture: the era of proving the concept is giving way to an era of disciplined expansion.

The sector has attracted unprecedented capital. Spiro alone has now raised more than $400 million through a combination of debt and equity financing. Ampersand has raised over $30 million to expand its fleet. But as investment becomes more demanding of business fundamentals, companies are bringing in executives with experience in scaling infrastructure businesses, often from mature markets such as India.

India’s battery-swapping ecosystem, which Badjatya helped build at IndoFast Energy, is one of the most advanced in the world, with networks supporting hundreds of thousands of commercial vehicles. Africa, with its vast informal transport sector, presents similar opportunities, but also significant challenges: weak electricity grids, fragmented regulations and affordability constraints. Executives with proven track records in scaling under such conditions are now being sought after.

These leadership changes signal a maturing industry. The early-stage founders who proved the technology and built the initial fleets are stepping back or shifting roles as professional executives with operational rigour take the helm. For investors, it is a sign that the continent’s e-mobility companies are serious about achieving profitability and sustainable scale. For riders, it means the promise of cheaper, cleaner transport may finally be realised at scale.

As Whale put it, “The electrification of commercial motorcycles in Africa is now set in stone. The question is now not if, but how well.” With seasoned leaders now in place at two of the continent’s largest players, the answer to that question will unfold in the coming years.