This archive report was first published on 26 October 2019.
Moi University's Digital Assembly Plant Empowers Kenyan IT Talent ¶
Published on October 26, 2019
Moi University's partnership with jp.ik, a Portuguese IT solutions firm, has revolutionized the IT industry in Kenya. The two entities have invested over USD 5 million to establish a digital assembly plant at the university's Rivatex Complex in Eldoret Town.
The plant has a capacity to produce 4,500 devices per day, translating to over 100,000 devices per month. This has created direct employment opportunities for 100 people and indirect employment for over 1,000 individuals. When production reaches its peak, the plant is expected to employ 300 people directly and 3,000 indirectly.
Speaking during the launch of the plant, Moi University's Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Isaac Kosgey, emphasized the university's commitment to empowering Kenyan IT talent. He stated, '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 plant has already assembled 150,000 ICT devices for the Kenya Digital Literacy Program and 70,000 devices for the recent government census. The devices were used by enumerators to key in the data they collected.
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. He stated, '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.'
However, there is a possibility that if not properly checked, Moi University's products might get outmuscled by cheaper imports. The government has maintained that Kenya is an open market, and local products must compete with imports. ICT Principal Secretary Jerome Ochieng stated, 'We've put in place measures to make sure that this facility is operating in a conducive business environment.'
