Industrial parks and manufacturing are an OK idea but nothing great about them. The best way to succeed is to focus on what you're good at: agribusiness, agritech and value adds. Then services - ICT, etc. Mucheru or whoever need to expand portfolio to research, science and technology, not mere ICT which is a tiny fraction of the pie. Basics need to be right.
Manufacturing as a multiplier is an outdated formula. Because the leverage of the factory as a mass employer has been automated. That has moved to services. You can't beat the west or the Chinese in hitec - nor Ethiopia and Vietnam in old school manufacturing - so you must target the niche of value adds.
With your relatively stellar education - Kenya needs to target mid- and high- skilled labor sectors - TIVET and engineering. But focused on services. It is very hard to crack manufacturing and worse it too late cause its leverage has eroded. In the US Detroit auto belt and old hubs there is lots of job loss - and not only to Mexico and China but more to factory tech - leading to Trump and the right wingers. Robot factories of Tesla and Amazon have been happening.
Manufacturing is an old leapfrog srategy that you're too late to adopt. China is the last to join that party - and they are swiftly moving on to hitec with Made in China 2025. But you don't need to be a genius to tell Made in India is going nowhere. Cause it takes a certain environment and mechanics to pull off manufacturing. China, Ethiopia, maybe Vietnam, Bangladesh have the DNA for it. Not India or Kenya.
It is why I disagree with SGR, etc - because hard infra aims at hard industry which won't happen. It is not Moi or Kibaki that failed - it's the environment. Moi stood zero chance against China. Uhuru stands zero chance with Ethiopia and Vietnam. However for niche value adds cheap power and capital is good. Explore large scale irrigation - counties and private sector partnership - Equity Bank had an agric startup. The DigiFarm you been praising. You need a top policy mind at Kilimo House. Not the incumbent joke you front here as the next best thing since Bruce McKenzie the boer.
For services - there is a good chance there because Kenya is the best by far regionally. RSA has messed up politics of nationalist mania. Nigeria is too corrupt, unstable and not near demographic climax. But Kenya - unless the corrupt, hare-brained, fumbling Dr Moneybag take over and build more SGRs - can nick it. You should focus on skilled manpower. Focus on city metros, TIVET, higher ed. Konza is perhaps stillborn yet there are iHub, NaiLab and impressive garage setups all over.
Old school agric-mfg-services strategy is gone. You have structural challenges, worse still you're time- barred and besieged by automation. That same opportunity you can tap by services. It's a surer bet than manufacturing, nor are they mutually exclusive.
Topic: Ethiopia Industrial Park - worth emulating. (Read 2369 times)