The CEO of the South African National Space Agency believes Africa’s greatest challenge is not accessing space, but building the institutions, industries and markets that transform space investment into economic growth.
Standing at the South African National Space Agency (SANSA) operations facility just outside Pretoria, Humbulani Mudau begins an unexpected conversation. Rather than speaking first about satellites or launch vehicles, he talks about batteries.
Africa possesses many of the minerals powering the global energy transition, including lithium and other critical resources, yet the continent continues to import many of the technologies that convert those raw materials into high-value products.
To Mudau, this contradiction reflects a much broader challenge facing Africa’s space sector.
While African countries increasingly invest in satellites and space programmes, they remain largely consumers of technologies developed elsewhere.
It demands stronger institutions, sustained investment, deliberate industrial policy and a willingness to collaborate beyond national borders.
Ultimately, Humbulani Mudau believes Africa’s future in space will not be defined solely by what it launches into orbit.
It will be defined by what it builds here on Earth.
For him, the true promise of Africa’s space economy lies not simply in reaching space, but in using space to transform lives, strengthen industries and accelerate the continent’s economic development.
That is the blueprint he believes Africa must now begin to build.
Source: https://spaceinafrica.com/2026/07/27/beyond-satellites-humbulani-mudaus-blueprint-for-africas-space-economy/