Interview with Mr. Sandile Ndlovu CEO AMD South Africa
CEO, Aerospace Maritime and Defence Industries Association of South Africa (AMD)
Since assuming leadership of AMD, what have been your top priorities for strengthening South Africa’s aerospace, maritime, and defence industrial base?
I assumed Leadership during a difficult period, at the height of COVID-19. Everything was on a downward spiral, exports, productivity and morale. So the first responsibility was to manage and stabilize the Industry. We also had to adjust to new ways of working, which included restricted travels. This was not easy, but we managed to pull through.
Once we had stabilized the Sector, we then had to devise a strategy to resuscitating our Sector and eventually growing it. Our close relationship with our Government proved to be very crucial for the attainment of these goals.
At the moment, we are pursuing three primary strategic objectives;
- Improving our regulatory environment: Our regulatory regime is very inefficient, at the moment, and we lose opportunities as a result. So it is imperative that we improve it.
- Africa Focus Strategy: As an Industry that is based on the African Continent, it is important that we becoming the dominant supplier of African Defence Forces and Security Agencies.
- Forming Strategic Global Partnerships: As a Sector and as a Country, we can not survive alone. It is therefore important that, through the support of our Government, we identify countries and industries/companies across the globe that we can partner and grow with.
How do you assess the current state of South Africa’s defence industry in terms of competitiveness, innovation, and export potential? Do you see any Gaps in Marketing and Branding Strategy?
The South African Defence Industry remains highly competitive, despite the many challenges that we are confronted with. While our spend on innovation has dropped, due to government reduction on R&D investment/spending, the private sector (both local and foreign) have stepped in to take advantage of the many good things that South Africa has going for us.
South Africa continues to possess the skills and knowledge that is required to be innovative and highly competitive. And the world knows and appreciates this.
As an Industry we continue to export over 75% of what we produce. This talks to the exportability of our products, to their durability and craftsmanship.
South Africa has a long-standing reputation for defence innovation. Which technologies and capability areas do you believe offer the greatest growth and export opportunities in today’s market?
The greatest growth and export opportunity for us is on Unmanned Systems (Air, Land and Sea); Missile Technology, Artillery Systems and Ground Based Air Defence Systems.
These present the greatest opportunity for our Sector.
What are the most significant challenges facing South Africa’s defence sector, and what measures are needed to ensure the long-term sustainability of the industry?
Our biggest challenges are mainly two.
- Decreased government spending on defence: While we appreciate export opportunities, our local defence force remains our primary client. If they are not able to procure or acquire what we produce, it becomes extremely difficult for us to market our products. Therefore, the defence budget affects us, just as much as it affects them. To address this issue, we have started engaging with our Government on introducing PPP’s in the Security Cluster. This will allow us to bring private capital to fund defence projects.
- Inefficient regulatory regime: Our permitting system is highly unpredictable and inefficient. This has negatively impacted our competitiveness.
As defence spending and security requirements evolve across Africa, how do you see the continent’s defence market developing, and what opportunities does this present for South African companies?
As stated above, Africa is our Primary Focus Area, so we monitor developments very closely. It is a widely accepted view that Africa is the future. This means even on the defence and security side, the next spending boom will be in Africa.
As African governments evolve their security requirements will evolve as well.
On the Security side, we have also seen more African countries advocating for African Solutions to African Challenges. So more and more countries will prefer solutions that are home grown, are indigenous to Africa. This will present significant opportunities for African companies.
African companies must prepare now for that, inevitable, reality.
As SADI we are open and have started engaging with African countries on the requirement for them to establish local defence manufacturing capacity.
International partnerships have become increasingly important in the global defence industry. How can South African companies strengthen cooperation with foreign partners while maintaining indigenous capabilities?
It has never served any industry or any country to try and do things on their own. The same holds for true for us, as SADI.
Therefore, for strategic partnerships, we are working with like minded countries to establish these. The BRICS+ environment is one of the platforms that we are utilizing in identifying the correct partners.
Emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, cyber defence, and advanced manufacturing are transforming modern warfare. How are AMD members adapting to these trends?
AMD members are investing heavily in developing technologies and solutions that will serve our country, and our partners.
Looking ahead to 2030, what are your key priorities for AMD, and what achievements would you like to see the South African aerospace, maritime, and defence sectors accomplish?
Our priorities remain quite simple, we need to grow our Sector. And we can grow the Sector by expanding and diversifying our export markets. That is the reason we have been engaging with government to assist in the unlocking of new markets for our products.
We need to intensify our efforts of penetrating the African market, we need to be dominant in this market.
Finally, what message would you like to share with international defence stakeholders and exhibitors of AAD regarding South Africa’s capabilities, innovation, and potential as a strategic industrial partner?
The primary message is that South Africa remains open for business and AAD will be the main place where we will showcase some of our capabilities.
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