The State Minister for Investment and Privatization, Evelyn Anite has said there is a huge market for locally produced goods both within Uganda and the region at large.
Speaking during a guided tour of the new showroom constructed by Chint Uganda along Jinja Road in Kampala, Anite allayed any fears by investors on availability of market for goods produced locally.
“I think our market is ready, because not only Uganda, but the entire East Africa has been relying on imported products. I have been seeing the contractors suffering because you cannot get good quality and unique products in our market, largely because you have to import them from far away, and you have to wait for longer times, and even when you travel to those countries, you're not able to communicate in their language. So Uganda's market is extremely ready, because this is time for us to buy quality, unique, yet affordable products,” Anite said.
“So I believe that it(showroom) is just providing a solution and coming in to fit in that reduction on the import bill. We've been importing a lot.”
The minister, quoting Uganda Revenue Authority figures, said Uganda has been importing home appliances worth shs10.7 billion($3 million), annually, noting that all this money was going abroad.
“Now, if they're being made in Uganda here, that means that we are going to save the dollar that our citizens were using to go and buy in China, in Dubai, in in Turkey. We are going to save it with by buying from Chint in Uganda, because Chint is making the products here.”
The minister said by producing products locally, investors like Chint are not only helping the country in terms of import substitution but also paying revenue to government in form of taxes and creating employment for Ugandans.
She said government is ready to support all investors produce locally to not only serve the Ugandan market but East Africa and Africa at large.
The Marketing Manager for Chint Uganda, Harry Mugisha said the company has intentional manufacturing which is part of their localization strategy.
“For example, our prepaid metres, we are able to produce about 300,000 pieces annually but the Ugandan market demand currently is not sufficient for all this production capacity we have. So shall go to other markets within East Africa and Africa buy exporting the products manufactured here in Uganda,” Mugisha said.
“This way, we shall create more demand for these factories so they are not redundant. We will cross the country’s borders to get market for the products.”