TRADE, investment and policy specialist Thabo Shenxane has been appointed CEO of the Automotive Industry Development Centre Eastern Cape (AIDC EC).
He joins the agency from his position as Head: Trade, Investment & Innovation at the Eastern Cape Development Corporation (ECDC). He holds a Master’s degree in Economic Policy from the University of Stellenbosch.
In a statement announcing the appointment, AIDC EC Board Chair Phumzile Zitumane said Shenxane’s deep experience in unlocking development funding would “assist in lifting the lid on the AIDC EC’s contribution to the growth of the region’s automotive and manufacturing sectors and the Eastern Cape economy in general’.’
Shenxane has also served in executive leadership roles at South Africa’s national Department of Trade and Industry, the Department of Economic Development in the Western Cape, Amathole Development Agency and the Umsobomvu Youth Fund in a career spanning 23 years.
At the behest of the Minister of Finance he had been appointed a board member of the Co-operatives Banks Development Agency (CBDA) between 2013 and 2016.
“In his role at the ECDC over the past four years Shenxane and his team secured investment revenue worth R3.6 billion for the Eastern Cape, but he has always balanced high-level trade and investment with the priority of supporting small enterprises,” the statement said.
Shenxane said he was relishing the opportunity of serving the AIDC EC team and growing its impact.
“I am looking particularly forward to working with the AIDC EC team who are industry-involved industrial and manufacturing specialists, while also maintaining the high governance standards that have marked the AIDC EC’s 18-year history. We are planning to bring the issues of the automotive sector as part of policy priority to the Eastern Cape Provincial Government.
“The AIDC EC will continue to support inclusion and growth in the automotive and manufacturing supply chain, which is essential to the socio-economic development of the Eastern Cape,” Shenxane said.
Zitumane said former CEO Hoosain Mohamed who “remained a vital asset” would complement Shenxane’s appointment in the new role of business development.
The AIDC EC, founded in 2003, is an Eastern Cape provincial government subsidised agency mandated to assist the region’s important automotive and manufacturing sectors become more globally competitive.
