Building What We Design: Local Manufacturing Thresholds
DATE & TIME:
April 22, 2026 12:00 pm - 12:40 pm
LOCATION:
Africa evidently has expertise in mission design and satellite operation, but much of the hardware is still manufactured abroad. Outside of component manufacturing hubs in South Africa and Egypt’s AIT facility, the continent remains largely dependent on external supply chains for critical subsystems. Each satellite built offshore represents lost industrial depth, limited skills transfer, and continued reliance on foreign strategic infrastructure.
This session will focus on the transition from customer to manufacturer. Rather than debating localisation in abstract terms, it will examine which subsystems Africa should prioritise first, where regional specialisation makes economic sense, and what minimum industrial thresholds are required to compete sustainably. It will also explore how procurement policy, anchor-customer commitments, and patient capital can create the guaranteed demand needed to stabilise early-stage manufacturers, and what forms of partnership genuinely transfer knowledge rather than reinforce dependency.
speakers
