CAPE TOWN: General Electric (GE) is seeking to more than double revenue from Africa to as much as $10bn over the next five years as it targets power, health and locomotive opportunities in countries including Nigeria and Ethiopia.
“We’re bullish on Nigeria,” GE’s president for transportation for Africa and CEO of its South African business, Thomas Konditi, said on Wednesday. “We met with a couple of the incoming leadership and they’ve put rail right behind power. They don’t have mines as much, so you’re going to look for more general freight.”
Nigeria, Africa’s biggest economy, transports only 0.1% of its freight by rail and could boost the number of locomotives to as many as 500 engines from 25 now, Mr Konditi said at the World Economic Forum in Cape Town.
The company plans to resume talks with the new government in Nigeria on an agreement with the previous administration for 200 locomotives, he said. Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari took office on Friday after defeating Goodluck Jonathan in March elections.
