Subhash Patel: The silent hero of MMI Steels

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As Uganda celebrates National Heroes Day, we are reminded of the individuals that sacrificed their lives and time for the betterment of their fellow Ugandans. The focus tends to be on the heroes of the Bush War, but this day also brings to mind the silent, unknown heroes that transformed this country down to the grassroots.

One such hero is Subhash Patel. The name will not ring a bell for most Ugandans, but that’s not a surprise for most unsung heroes. Subhash Patel is best known as the founder of MMI Steels Uganda, the company known today as the leading maker and distributor of steel products, piping and the massively popular Kiboko Coloured Mabati iron sheet range across Uganda and East Africa.

The MMI Steels Story

MMI Steels was started as an offshoot of MMI Steels in Tanzania, the brainchild of group founder, Subhash Patel. The company was created as a solution to a key need: the demand for high quality steel solutions that were affordable and tailored for Ugandan climate and market.

It’s hard to believe that there was a time when Ugandans imported wheelbarrows and iron sheets from Kenya. MMI Steels has made significant progress against its original vision. Today, MMI Steels has covered this ground with its range of fully ‘Made in Uganda’ steel products, ranging from Alu-Zinc coils to corrugated and pre-painted iron sheets to hoop iron, hollow sections, PUF Panels and water tanks.

The highly popular Kiboko Mabati range of iron sheets now includes the MMAX Tile, MMAX Eco and Rwenzori tile iron sheets. Additional steel products include Z purlins, normal corrugation iron sheets, chequered plates, MS plates and more. MMI Steel products have been used in landmark national infrastructure projects, including stadiums, roads and homes. Today, the company has also improved its service delivery by introducing Kiboko Fundi, an AI chatbot that gives individuals expert construction advice for free and in real time via Whatsapp.

To date, MMI Steels Uganda has invested over 260b in Uganda through its industrialisation operations. The company employs over 400 employees across its manufacturing plants, in addition to the 1000 men and women it supports throughout the delivery chain of its products from raw material to final seller. Subsequently, over 3000 families gain directly from this employment, a key pillar in Uganda’s economic growth.

Different Setbacks

Since its inception, MMI Steels has faced numerous challenges. The issue of substandard products flooding the market was an early challenge. When that was fixed, the new challenge formed in the shape of imported steel products from neighbouring countries like Kenya and china,a Road infrastructure remains limiting in certain parts of the country, as are frequent power outages. Nevertheless, MMI Steels has persevered and continued to serve its clients across the region with new products and initiatives that transform their communities, including the No Asbestos Campaign a sensitisation rise awareness on the dangers of cancer and other respiratory diseases caused by Asbestos roof sheets  and the Kiboko Fundi chat support system to help tailor solutions through an AI chatbot.

Community Integration

According to current CEO Heramb Kumthekar, MMI Steels remains committed to supporting the communities it operates in, a key vision of founder Subhash Patel.

Through the No Absestos campaign, MMI Steels recently donated free Mabati to rural Ugandan schools affected by the asbestos replacement campaign. The company also engages with local religious societies, most recently supporting the Uganda Muslim Supreme Council with a Zakat contribution for the needy. Most importantly, MMI Steels is employing eco-friendly practices across its manufacturing and delivery chain to protect the environment, including recycling scrap metal and tyres, use of solar energy and wheel burrow tyres.

The Vision bearer

None of this would have been possible without the visionary foresight of Mr.Subshash Patel, the late founder of Motisun Group, the parent company of MMI Steels. From the outset, he believed that high quality steel products could be made locally through a process that not only offered product but also benefitted citizens.

Subhash Patel was born in 1958 in Lugoba, a small village in Tanzania, to a shopkeeper father. The trade bug hit him quite early. By his 18^th birthday, he had graduated from selling herbs and spices on his own to opening a small spare parts shop. “I went on to open my own garage in 1977”, he told the East African Business Times Magazine in 2020.

He didn’t stop there. As the Tanzanian socialist regime crumbled in the 1980s, individuals were given an opportunity to purchase state institutions. Mr Patel was one of the few that took this opportunity when he bought his first steel mill.

Years later he would remark that even then, he harboured goals of producing at least 200,000 mega tonnes of steel per year, despite this early MMI Steel Mills having just one rolling mill and one induction furnace.

Patel later founded MMI Steels Uganda, the first of its kind cold rolling steel factory in the country. Today, as we celebrate the heroes that transformed our country, we look back and celebrate Mr Subhash Patel’s visionary foresight a company that has become a trailblazer and force for good throughout the region. Indeed, some heroes never die.