Ghanaian Vice President Professor Naana Jane Opoku Agyemang has highlighted the role of women led enterprises in the country’s industrial development during a visit to Zonda Tec Ghana Limited’s vehicle assembly facilities in Tema.
The Vice President toured the company’s assembly operations on Tuesday, where she observed the production of trucks and specialised vehicles under a Completely Knocked Down, or CKD, assembly model. She also inspected the company’s light vehicle operations, including facilities involved in assembling hybrid and electric vehicles.
Zonda Tec Ghana is a Ghana based automotive and equipment business founded by Chinese entrepreneur Yang Yang. The company says it began operations in Ghana in 2010 and has subsequently expanded from heavy duty vehicle assembly and distribution into light vehicles, construction equipment and related services. Its product portfolio includes vehicles and equipment from brands such as Great Wall Motor, Sinotruk and Forland. (Zondatec)
Zonda Tec Ghana’s company profile
Opoku Agyemang described the company’s development as an example of how women can participate in sectors traditionally associated with male dominated industrial and technical employment. Her comments place the experience of Zonda Tec within Ghana’s broader effort to increase domestic production, develop technical capabilities and create employment.
The significance of the company extends beyond the gender dimension. Zonda Tec’s operations reflect an evolving automotive sector in which Ghana is seeking to move progressively from vehicle distribution and assembly towards deeper domestic participation in manufacturing and component production.
That distinction is important. CKD assembly involves bringing vehicles into a country in disassembled form for local assembly, rather than producing the entire vehicle and its major components domestically. Ghanaian industrial policy has increasingly focused on strengthening the local content associated with automotive production, including the development of component manufacturing.
In 2025, Ghana’s Minister for Trade, Agribusiness and Industry, Elizabeth Ofosu Adjare, said the government was reviewing the country’s automotive policy to accommodate larger vehicles and equipment, including trucks and heavy machinery. She also called on automotive companies to increase local sourcing, particularly where this could support Ghana’s participation in trade under the African Continental Free Trade Area.
The policy direction is significant for Ghana and the wider African market. The African Continental Free Trade Area provides an opportunity for countries to develop regional production networks in which components and finished products can move across borders, provided they meet the applicable rules of origin. For automotive businesses, this creates an incentive to deepen local and regional supply chains rather than relying predominantly on imported inputs.
Zonda Tec has already developed an industrial footprint that extends beyond vehicle sales. The company states that it assembles Sinotruk heavy vehicles in Ghana and has also developed facilities for light vehicles and construction machinery. Its first Great Wall Motor sport utility vehicle was assembled in Ghana in 2024.
The company has also been expanding its electric and hybrid vehicle portfolio. In February 2026, Zonda Tec introduced Chery vehicles to the Ghanaian market, including the fully electric iCAUR V23 and iCAUR 03. The company said the vehicles would be assembled at its Tema facilities.
More recently, Zonda Tec announced the introduction of a Sinotruk electric tipper truck in Ghana, illustrating the growing interest in electrification beyond passenger vehicles and into commercial and industrial transport.
For Ghana, the potential benefits of such investment are not limited to the number of vehicles assembled. Industrial development can create demand for technicians, engineers, logistics providers, maintenance specialists, component manufacturers and other businesses connected to the automotive value chain. The extent of these benefits, however, depends on how much of the production ecosystem becomes locally rooted.
This is why the Vice President also urged Zonda Tec to continue investing in the training of Ghanaian workers and to explore opportunities to manufacture more components locally. She said industrial companies should help inform training institutions about the skills required by emerging industries so that graduates are better prepared for employment.
Zonda Tec has previously highlighted skills development as part of its operations. The company says it has trained Ghanaian employees in heavy equipment assembly, with Chinese engineers providing technical instruction and some Ghanaian workers receiving further training in China.
The development also illustrates a broader dimension of Africa’s economic relationship with China. Chinese investment in African economies is increasingly extending beyond the traditional areas of infrastructure, construction and commodities into manufacturing, distribution, technology and industrial services. The value of such partnerships will ultimately be measured not simply by the volume of foreign investment, but by the extent to which they contribute to local capabilities, employment, technology transfer and African owned supply chains.
For Ghana, the challenge is therefore to ensure that expanding assembly capacity becomes part of a longer industrialisation pathway. Greater production of locally made components, stronger technical training and access to regional markets could determine whether automotive assembly develops into a deeper manufacturing ecosystem.
Zonda Tec’s experience offers one example of that transition. Its growth also demonstrates the increasing participation of women in African industrial enterprise, while highlighting the wider policy question facing Ghana and other African economies: how to convert investment and assembly capacity into durable domestic and regional productive capability.
As Ghana advances its 24 hour economy agenda and seeks to expand productive activity, the performance of companies such as Zonda Tec will provide an important indication of whether industrial policy can translate investment into sustained employment, skills development and greater local value creation.
