Truck and Rodent: Cartoonist Masoud ‘The Little Mouse,’ builds Tanzania’s first Electric vehicle

Tanzanian artist, cartoonist, producer and broadcaster, Ali Masoud has just done what few people in the country ever dream of attempting; designing and actually building an electric car.

Ali Masoud, famously known by his artistic name, ‘Masoud Kipanya,’ is essentially recognized through his hilarious political caricatures that appears on various media outlets, including online platforms.

Kipanya, is also some sort of a humorist, a real comedian, cracking jokes whenever the situation calls for it.

And sure enough, when Masoud announced that he will be unveiling an electric car of his design, many dismissed the report as one of his hilarious one-liners, this time extended.

By the way ‘Kipanya’ is a Kiswahili word meaning ‘little mouse,’ which happens to be the trademark of his cartoon series.

The car he unveiled at the Mlimani City shopping mall, in Dar-es-salaam is just as ‘little,’ a small, red-colored pickup truck, which runs on rechargeable batteries.

As he took awed guests round his new invention, Masoud sold two cars on the spot.

His project was certainly taking place secretly, he only displayed the finished product after more than a year of extensive working.

The car was built through his new company, ‘Kay Pee’ motors, which should essentially be ‘KP’ meaning ‘Kipanya’ or little mouse.

The Company’s CEO? Well she is a teenager, a girl called Salha aged 13 and daughter of, Okay, Masoud himself.

Da Vinci Car?

Italian artist, Leonard da Vinci, the legendary name behind ;Mona Lisa and the Last Supper, who lived many years before the invention of motor vehicles, is said to have actually sketched the design of the first self-propelling car in the year 1478.

His Tanzanian alter-ego, Masoud gets to build a more technologically advanced one, some 544 years later. That is five and a half centuries down the lane.