Multimedia company Vision Group strikes deal with MMI Steels

By Eddie Ssejjoba

JINJA - Vision Group chief executive officer (CEO) Don Wanyama has commended MM Integrated (MMI) Steels Uganda, the Jinja city-based makers of Kiboko iron sheets, for their campaign to replace cancerous asbestos roofs in schools with iron sheets. 

“We need people to understand the risk of using asbestos, it is a health issue, and we need to let people know how it affects their health, especially students who study in these schools,” Wanyama said during his tour of the factory on Wednesday. 

The Vision Group team led by Don Wanyama (R) was received at the MM Integrated Steels premises by Heramb Kumthekar (L), the steel company CEO and Charles Magara, the chief marketing officer. (All Photos by Eddie Ssejjoba)

He described MM Integrated Steels’ campaign to replace asbestos roofs in schools as a humanitarian gesture to prevent cancer.

Partnership 

Wanyama later announced the partnership between Vision Group and MM Integrated Steels to support the ‘Buy Uganda Build Uganda’ (BUBU) policy. 

“We are looking forward, as Vision Group, to working with MM Integrated Steels to tell their story. They have done lots of things in the communities, like working with schools to replace asbestos,” Wanyama said. 

He added: “We are looking forward to letting Ugandans know what they [MM Integrated Steels] have been up to, but most importantly, for them to appreciate their products. We talk about the BUBU policy; this is the way to go”.

The Vision Group team was received at the MM Integrated Steels premises by Heramb Kumthekar, the steel company CEO and Charles Magara, the chief marketing officer. 

Wanyama was accompanied by the Vision Group head of marketing, Lorraine Tukahirwa and advertising manager Suzan Nambuusi Kayanja, among other people. 

He commended the company for investing heavily in the steel plant and expressed interest in Vision Group becoming a part of their journey.

“You have invested quite some money here, we understand it is important for you to penetrate the market to be able to tell your story and connect your products to the communities. 

“We can help you pass on this story and get out to these audiences and the markets and be able to tell a story... We have worked with many companies to support them, but we have been doing this largely as a media platform, but now, we have decided to create a marketing agency within Vision Group, Blend Advertising,” Wanyama said. 

Blend Advertising, he said, takes advantage of all the other media platforms in Vision Group to work with clients and partners like MM Integrated Steels to fashion all their communication and marketing stories. 

Wanyama said Vision Group would support them in their marketing strategy.

Growth 

Heramb Kumthekar, the MM Integrated Steels chief executive officer, said Kiboko had become a household brand in Uganda with their parent company in Dares-Salaam, Tanzania, but they also have manufacturing plants in Mozambique and Zambia. 

“We recently invested $21m [about sh77b], and this year we are investing another $12m [about sh44b] in the project for a cold rolling mill, with a capacity of producing 12 tonnes of roof sheets every month, which caters for South Sudan, DR Congo, the western part of Kenya and parts of Tanzania where our production in Dar-es-Salaam does not reach,” Kumthekar said. 

He said under the corporate social responsibility, the company was supporting an ongoing drive to educate schools about asbestos dangers. “We are encouraging people to use iron sheets, mainly our brand Kiboko,” he said.