Ggoobi urges phone manufacturer on quality
Sep 26, 2023
“Once the quality of the phone is good and the prices are also affordable, there is no reason Ugandans and other countries will go to Europe to buy similar phones,” Ggoobi says.
(L-R) Moses Kaggwa, Director economic affairs at the MOF, Ramathan Ggoobi, Permanent Secretary MOF, David Beecham Okwere, Simi Mobile chief executive. (Photos by Abbey Ramadhan)
Abbey Ramadhan
Journalist @New Vision
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Finance ministry permanent secretary Ramathan Ggoobi has urged Namanve-based Simi mobile and computer assembling plant proprietors to manufacture quality and cheaper affordable phones.
Workers of Simi mobile and computer assembling plant, assembling phones during the visit of the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Finance, Economic planning at the plant by Ramathan Ggoobi at the factory. This was at Namanve Industrial Park
“Once the quality of the phone is good and the prices are also affordable, there is no reason Ugandans and other countries will go to Europe to buy similar phones,” Ggoobi says.
Ggoobi made the call during a visit to the plant in Namanve Industrial Park, Mukono district on Saturday, September 23, 2023.
Simi is Uganda’s first multi-billion mobile phone and computer assembling plant, a subsidiary of Engo Holdings Group Ltd that was commissioned by President Museveni in 2019.
Ggoobi advised Simi directors to first consider the quality of the products: “The price should be competitive so that our Ugandan-made mobile phones and smartphones are unbeatable”.
He noted that the Government is ready to support them so long as they are willing to produce quality. According to him, the government's policy is to facilitate investors to make money.
This can in return help a country to transform economically through getting jobs for the young people as well as exporting products to other countries hence earning foreign exchange.
He noted that economies only transform when companies develop export discipline and the ability to export. Reasonably Japan, Taiwan, China, Singapore, South Korea, and Malaysia transformed so fast and they were able to integrate their economies into global economies by exporting.
‘’We shall make sure that we support you and make policies that remove those bottlenecks you are facing and be able to do business more cost-effectively,” Ggoobi said.
Simi Mobile chief executive board secretary David Beecham Okwere said the company has stepped up its production with phones being sold in the local market and others exported.
“We exported our first products to Morocco and we have never looked back. We currently export phones to Kenya, DRC, and Tanzania and now with the African Continental Free Trade Area, we want to use that avenue to have these products spread to all African countries as a Ugandan identity product. We want our products to be the flagship phones for Uganda,” Okwere said.
He decried the increasingly smuggled phones into the market that are sold cheaper than the locally assembled ones.
Okwere called for government support to be able to realise these dreams, saying they would not only help them but also increase taxes and create jobs for the citizens.
Moses Kaggwa, the director of economic affairs at the finance ministry, asked Simi Mobilise to start manufacturing phones locally, other than only assembling them.
Smartphone penetration in Uganda continued to grow, rising from 8.1 million to 10.4 million (as of August 2022 according to the Uganda Communications Commission) backed by a growing digital economy, and internet usage.
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