From Zero to Global: How I Helped Turn Spiro Into One of the World’s Most Influential Brands
When I joined Spiro, there was no press list. No brand guidelines. No website, even. The company — then called M-Auto — had a few thousand electric bikes on the ground, a scrappy startup spirit, and an ambition big enough to power a continent. Within two weeks, we rebranded the entire company. Spiro was born.
That pace never slowed. Today, Spiro operates in seven African countries, has deployed over 21,000 electric motorbikes, and is building a Pan-African smart energy ecosystem through battery swapping and local manufacturing. Time named us one of the world’s 100 most influential companies — the first African e-mobility player to be recognised alongside Tesla, Amazon and Apple.
It’s a classic scale-up story. But from a communications point of view, it was something else: building a brand from scratch, at speed, in multiple markets, in multiple languages, while shaping not just what we said — but who we were.
The challenge: build fast, stay human
We didn’t have the luxury of six-month brand studies or 80-page tone-of-voice decks. We had factory launches, government deals, and regulatory deadlines. My job was to make sure comms wasn’t an afterthought — but a strategic driver. I worked directly with two CEOs to land our narrative. No fluff. Just clarity, consistency, and a voice that could cut through across four time zones and ten audiences. That meant:
Launching the Spiro brand in record time, with an identity that worked across West and East Africa
Crafting messaging that resonated with governments, investors, and everyday riders
Shaping internal culture, so our people — from factory teams to swap station operators — felt proud, aligned, and seen
Engaging media in ways that made Spiro impossible to ignore, even in markets where we were the new kid on the block
The turning point: when we stopped sounding like a startup
Early on, we made a key decision: to stop explaining what we did, and start owning what we stood for. We weren’t just a clean transport company. We were an industrial strategy. A youth employment driver. A climate solution rooted in African innovation, not Western charity. That’s when the brand truly clicked — in Kigali, in Nairobi, in Cotonou. We weren’t trying to sound like Tesla. We sounded like Spiro. And eventually, they started mentioning us in the same breath.
Lessons in scale, speed and soul
Communications helped turn Spiro from a project into a movement. We shaped perception at every level — from grassroots riders to heads of state. But more than that, we made people believe. Not with spin. With stories, results, and a voice that stayed honest, even as the spotlight grew. My three biggest lessons?
Clarity beats complexity. If your own staff can’t repeat your value proposition, you don’t have one.
Internal comms is external comms. A team that believes in the mission is your best media strategy.
Act global, speak local. We landed coverage from Bloomberg to RFI, but the most powerful messages were often in Kinyarwanda, Swahili, or Ewe — carried by our people.
What’s next?
Spiro is now becoming a global voice in clean energy, with major partnerships, celebrity collaborations, and expansion into Nigeria and beyond. As a comms leader, it was a rare privilege to build something from nothing, to find the signal in the noise, and to help a young company take its place on the world stage — without losing what made it matter in the first place. And if you’re wondering — yes, I’d do it all again.