In response to President Yoweri Museveni’s call for private sector support to the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, Simba Automotives, an indigenous Ugandan company and subsidiary of Shumuk Group of Companies, has donated three motorcycles and a motorcycle ambulance worth Shs 50 Million towards the national COVID 19 relief Fund.
The donation was received by the Minister of Health Jane Ruth Aceng together with the Permanent Secretary, Dr. Diana Atwine at the Ministry of Health headquarters in Kampala.
Speaking at the handover event, Paresh Shukla, managing director, Simba Automotives noted that the Uganda has, for almost a century, imported motorcycles from other countries like China, Japan and India which is more expensive than purchasing local products.
He urged the government to invest in local manufacturing companies to enable growth in employment and inevitably foster economic growth.
“We have contributed three brand new locally manufactured motorcycles and a motorcycle ambulance worth Shs 50 million to health workers who can use them as a cheap transport option considering they move faster, cheap to maintain and enable quick response to emergencies,” Paresh said.
He further noted that Uganda currently imports over 10,000 motorcycles (boda bodas) worth $10 million every month.
“Motorcycles are economically efficient and would offer employment to many people across the country given the number of service centers across the country that need support. Government investing in local manufacturing companies like Simba Automotives will enable us create our own solutions to increase employment and offer service support nationwide.”
Atwine said: “Thank you very much for making this donation and also allowing us to know what your product is about because it gives us some level of confidence to know that we can get our locally made products as solutions to some of the challenges we are facing.”
