Spiro appoints Auroasish Choudhuri to lead West and Central Africa

Spiro, a company specialising in electric motorcycles and battery swapping, has appointed Auroasish Choudhuri as managing director for West and Central Africa. According to a company statement, he will lead mobility operations in the two regions and report to Kaushik Burman, managing director of mobility.

The appointment comes as Spiro reorganises its management team after raising $270 million in June. The group has appointed Anant Badjatya, a former executive at Indofast Energy, as its managing director. Kaushik Burman, previously Spiro’s managing director, has taken charge of mobility services.

Experience in automotive and regional markets

Auroasish Choudhuri has more than 20 years of experience managing automotive operations in Africa, Asia and the Americas. He joins Spiro after leading DAG Industries, an automotive and industrial company operating in Nigeria and Benin.

Before that role, he spent more than 10 years at Indian two-wheeler manufacturer TVS Motor Company, where he served as regional head of operations for Asia and later Latin America. His career also includes responsibilities in international sales and business development at Escorts Limited, covering markets including the United States, Latin America, West Asia and Sri Lanka.

Expanding the battery-swapping model

Spiro aims to expand its business beyond the sale of electric motorcycles. The company is developing an ecosystem that includes battery-swapping infrastructure, allowing users to replace a depleted battery with a fully charged one.

The group assembles vehicles in Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda, and operates a battery recycling facility in Nigeria. It also has operations in Benin, Togo and Cameroon. Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo have been identified as expansion markets.

In May, Spiro acquired Coexlion, a British specialist in two-wheeler engineering, to advance vehicle development and manufacturing. The appointment of Auroasish Choudhuri is part of the company’s objective to strengthen the infrastructure and supply chains needed to deploy its battery-swapping model at scale.