Uganda Starts Manufacturing Mobile Phones
The Ugandan government recently launched a mobile phone and computer manufacturing plant in the Namanve Industrial Park. Heralded as a turning point in positive foreign direct investment, this move would also drastically reduce the cost of importation of technology and ensure job creation opportunities for Ugandans.
The factory built by Chinese Electronics firm ENGO Holdings Limited will produce 2,000 mobile phones, 1,500 Smart phones and 800 mini slim laptops every day when it starts operating at full capacity in 2021. The phone models with dual SIM slots and a Memory card will collectively be known as S300 powered 1,400mAh capacity battery. They are enabled with JAVA for playing MP3/MP4 Audio-Visual files. They receive telecommunications signal using 2GSM and GPRS operating on two bandwidths in the range of 850 -1900.
Ares Chow Yu Qing, the Executive Director of ENGO Holdings Limited says that the factory will in the future produce 2,000 chargers, 4,000 USB cables and 4,000 ear phones in the third phase of the development of the factory in October 2021.
ENGO Holdings Limited is investing USD 15 million in phases over a period of five years to achieve optimal output from the initial one million electronic gadgets a year. Most of the parts currently being assembled were imported from China including mainboards, the 2.4 Inch screen, touch panels, battery, Cameras, speaker receivers and vibrators. The factory is expected to reduce the import bill by producing cheap phones for the East African nation.
Financial investments from the Chinese is something that President Museveni encourages. In his speech at the launch of the manufacturing plant, the president stated that he believes the Chinese investors to be “very serious partners because they understand the importance of infrastructure,” and that he is “very happy” with their investments in the country.
With plans to use the products manufactured in the government departments itself and even impose importation taxes on similar products brought into the country, it is obvious that Museveni will be taking the necessary steps to ensure that the products assembled in the factory are used
