This archive report was first published on 23 October 2019.
Moi University has taken a significant step towards promoting local manufacturing in Kenya by unveiling a range of premium ICT devices assembled at its Digital Assembly Plant in Eldoret.
The plant, a partnership between Moi University and jp.ik, a Portuguese Information and Communication Technologies company, has a capacity to produce 4500 devices per day, translating to over 100,000 devices per month in three shifts.
Speaking during the launch, Moi University's Vice Chancellor, Prof. Isaac Kosgey, said the Digital Assembly Plant was officially inaugurated this year and has so far assembled 150,000 ICT devices for the Kenya Digital Literacy Program and a further 70,000 tablets for the recent government census.
Prof. Kosgey expressed the university's commitment to diversifying its portfolio to include a broader range of products that will appeal to local businesses and consumers, saying, 'As a university, we are proving that Kenya has the skills and capacity to build local technology that can compete on a global stage.'
The devices launched under the brand name MU consist of desktop computers, laptops, servers, and NUCs targeted at SMEs, higher education students and faculty, government, and enterprise companies.
jp.ik's Head of Sales Worldwide, Nick Broda, expressed confidence in the assembly plant's capacity to meet demand from local and regional markets, saying, 'We have done our market research and established that there is a big market for these products and are fully invested in developing this market.'
Also present at the launch was Mr. Jerome Ochieng, Principal Secretary Ministry of Information, Communication and Technology, who urged Kenyans and counties to support local ICT innovations, saying, 'Buying Kenya ultimately builds Kenya.'
The new products, including MU Fortune Slim Book and MU Trigono, are designed to appeal to the young spirits and on-the-go users, with Intel-based technology and Microsoft's Windows 10.
Prof. Kosgey said, 'We are positioning our university to participate in the realization of the big four agenda under the manufacturing component and also look forward to making Eldoret an ICT innovation Hub.'
