A Chinese electronics firm, ENGO Holdings Limited, has joined Uganda’s industrial sector to domestically manufacture and assemble mobile phones and laptop computers.
The firm is setting up its plant in Namanve, Uganda’s flagship industrial park.
The executive director of ENGO Holdings Limited, Ares Chow Yu Qing, says “the firm will cover the first generation of products manufactured and gathered from the plant to the market before close of 2019.”
According to Yu, the firm will invest $15 million (approx. Shs 55.6 billion) over five years to boost the production capacity from initial 1 million mobile phone gadgets a year to its maximum.
The firm’s trademark is known as Simi Mobile and will produce both cheap analogue and smartphones.
The chairman of the board of Uganda Investment Authority (UIA), Dr Emily Kugonza, says he is confident the company will alter dramatically the ICT sector in Uganda.
He said the development is coming at a time when Africa is the next frontier of development.
Kugonza further added, “We wish to congratulate ENGO Holdings for this great milestone. I got the opportunity of visiting your assembly plant in Ethiopia and I got convinced that you’re the right people to come to Uganda and help us take off in the ICT sector the way we’re witnessing today.”
Tumwebaze said the development is a huge milestone for the country. He urged the franchise to explore the use of Uganda’s manufactured software in their manufacturing value chain.
Anite says some of the gadgets will come with self-charging solar units making them ideal for rural communities.
James Ssaka, the executive director of the National Information Technology Authority (NITA-U) says Uganda’s ICT sector has dramatically grown over the last ten years.
According to NITA, there are 22 million mobile phone subscribers in Uganda. It says the sector is growing at 27 per cent per annum.
