Abstract:
Although Kenya's electronic industry is still at its
infancy, a number of firms in the assembly, testing, repair and
maintenance of electronic goods are in operation and are rapidly
increasing their scope of activities to meet the growing demands of
the industry.
Even if a few of these companies have started most of the electronic
components and equipment are being imported. This leaves our
country at a loss since we will continue relying on foreign countries
in terms of manufacturing.
Key opportunities for direct investments, joint-ventures and
subcontracting exist in assembly of a wide range of electronic goods
in Kenya, especially within the Manufacturing Under Bond scheme
and Export Processing Zone Programmes. These include the
production of; resistors, capacitors, inductors, diodes, transistors and
integrated circuits. Consumer electronics, such as colour televisions,
Video Cassette Recorders (VCRs), printers, floppy disk drives and
Compact Disk Roms (CD-Rs); Telecommunication equipment, such
as printed circuit boards, and transmission equipment; and Support
items such as cables, cords, die casting and metal plating.
With a labour force which is well-equipped to meet the labour skill
requirements for the industry and the relatively large domestic and
export market potential of electronics in the region, Kenya offers an
enormous potential for the manufacturing and assembly of electronic
items.
This paper aims at encouraging Kenyans to come up with firms
which can manufacture electronic components. This can help a lot in
achieving the vision 2030. The benefits of local manufacturing are
so many that the government through ministry of industrialization
should come up with policies which can create a conducive
environment for electronic component and equipment
manufacturing.
Benefits are like creation of employment, enhancing economic
growth and creation of a very good research and learning
environment.
I believe that if such a firms are created then our country can
compete with China which is now becoming an economic giant since
this is where they started from.