Naacam under new leadership

The National Association of Automotive Component and Allied Manufacturers (Naacam) has appointed Renai Moothilal as its new executive director. Moothilal will assume his new position as of September 2016.

A development economist of the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Moothilal joins Naacam after spending the last decade at the Department of Trade and Industry (dti), most recently as a senior official in the automotive policy unit.

During this time, he was instrumental in managing various policy and programme-related issues including the transition from Motor Industry Development Programme (MIDP) to Automotive Production and Development Programme (APDP), institutionalising the Automotive Supply Chain Competitiveness Initiative (ASCCI), as well as laying the groundwork for the (ongoing) development of an Automotive Masterplan from 2020 to 2035.

Moothilal’s appointment comes at a time when Naacam is looking to enhance its positioning and role within the South African automotive environment to deliver greater value for members. The Association has been without a full-time leader since last year. Roger Pitot has been advising in a part-time capacity.

In welcoming him, Naacam president Dave Coffey says: “We are truly pleased at Renai’s appointment. He brings a unique set of skills and experience and has, in a fairly short time, made his mark in the automotive manufacturing sector. Renai is respected by its key stakeholders and has a deep and holistic appreciation of the challenges and opportunities faced by different sector players.”

“We are entering an exciting phase of operations for Naacam and the automotive sector as a whole. Under the leadership of the dti, preparations are firmly underway to develop an Automotive Masterplan and supporting policy framework to optimise growth and economic outcomes from the sector up to 2035. Naacam wants to ensure that the automotive component supplier base in South Africa contributes to, and benefits from, this growth.”

Naacam represents approximately 150 automotive component manufacturing and related service provision companies, spread across more than 220 production sites across South Africa. In 2015, approximately 82 000 direct jobs were associated with component manufacturing. In the same year companies in this sub-sector invested more than R2,7 billion, while generating sales in excess of R82 billion.