Great news!Farmers and traders in the cotton and leather industries could see improved fortunes in future if a plan mooted by the Government succeeds. The two suffered a beating when the industry was liberalised allowing the market to flood with cheap imports. Now, the Government plans to rejuvenate the sectors to create thousands of jobs, especially in the textile industry, which is currently on its knees.
Read more at: http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/busi...textile-leather-sectors-get-sh3-billion-boost
A Kes. 2.2bn ($25mn) garment factory started its operations in Kenya’s coastal town of Mtwapa on Saturday as part of the government’s ongoing effort to position the East African nation as an industrial investments destination.
Speaking during the official opening of the Mombasa Apparels EPZ factory, Industrialisation and Enterprise Development Cabinet Secretary Adan Mohamed said the plant will manufacture garments for the international market.
"Such investments in the textiles and apparels sectors are a clear demonstration of the growing investor confidence," Mohamed told journalists in Mtwapa, Kilifi County.
"The government is deliberately focusing on labour intensive sectors that are key drivers in job creation and industrialisation, " he added.
The move comes as the East African nation plans to build a textile city to meet the manufacturing investment needs for a number of global garment marketing firms.
The Textile City model besides foreign investments attraction will be one of the key pillars earmarked as the national job creation platforms.
The EPZ Apparel’s Sector currently employs more than 35,000 people in the EPZ alone, and has the potential to generate more jobs across the entire value chain in the country over the next two years if the right mix of policy interventions is implemented.
Mohamed said the opening of the factory had created 3,000 direct jobs with a potential to create another 4,000 jobs in its second phase of development.
"This year, Kenya managed to spring up as the leading and largest exporter under the AGOA program in Sub-Saharan Africa, with exports to the tune of over 300 million dollars and 10,000 new direct jobs created in the apparel sector," Mohamed said...
Source Daily NationPresident Kenyatta summarised his priorities in the second term into what he called the Big Four: food security, affordable housing, manufacturing and affordable healthcare for all.
“During the next five years, I will dedicate the energy, time and resources of my administration to the Big Four,” he said.
In the manufacturing sector, President Kenyatta directed that all boots, leather products and textiles for the disciplined forces be procured from local manufacturers, with effect from the 2018/19 financial year.
This, he argued, will boost an economy that buys more than 30 million pairs of shoes a year, yet has the third-largest cattle herd in Africa.
They don't, only the NYS does-for legal reasons probably. Military still uses British DPM and some special forces units use MTP, which is likely to replace dpm as standard issue in the future.I didn't know the Kenyan military had switched to pixilated camouflage
That pixilated green would make good camo...They don't, only the NYS does-for legal reasons probably. Military still uses British DPM and some special forces units use MTP, which is likely to replace dpm as standard issue in the future.
MTP was designed to suit the Kenyan environment specifically, so it would be idiotic for KDF not to adopt a camo that was developed to suit the Kenyan bush by NATO powers.
This is what we need. 10,000 here 5, 000 there 15,000 elsewhere and before you know it we get a million people off the streets, then 2 million..... Hope they get all these planned EPZ's to start roaring around the country.A Dubai-based textiles company, United Aryan (EPZ), plans to build a factory that could employ up to 10,000 workers at Olkaria geothermal fields in Naivasha to take advantage of lower electricity costs.
The factory, expected to be constructed in the next two years, will manufacture apparel such as trousers, knit tops, fleeces, shirts, robes and pajamas.
United Aryan currently operates at Baba Dogo’s Balaji Export Processing Zone in Ruaraka, where it manufactures apparels for export.
The company’s founder and Chairman Pankaj Bedi said the factory will produce products for sale not only in Kenya, but across other markets in the world such as US and Europe.
“We have identified an ideal place at Olkaria geothermal fields in Naivasha where we intend to establish a Sh11.5 billion factory for the production of quality garments. We expect to start construction in the next two years and thereafter start operations as soon as the factory will be complete,” Mr Bedi said in an interview.
The factory, which will sit on a 20-acre land will provide employment opportunities to an estimated 10,000 locals directly and 40,000 other Kenyans indirectly.
It will have six units made up of 84 lines with the capacity to produce and wash more than 100,000 pieces of attire on a daily basis.
^^Any updates regarding the above news?
In other news, excellent insight as usual from Chamwada:
