Experts urge Kenya's manufacturers to embrace technology to up competitiveness

NAIROBI, April 12 (Xinhua) -- Experts on Thursday urged Kenyan manufacturers to embrace technology in order to improve their global competitiveness.

Kwame Owino, CEO of the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), said in Nairobi that the local manufacturing sector has remained stagnant in the past five years due to fierce competition from foreign made goods.

"In order for Kenyan manufacturers to gain competitive edge they will have to deploy digitization so that they improve their global competitiveness," Owino said during the Forum on The Era of Digitalization in the Manufacturing Sector.

The day-long event brought together policy makers and manufacturers to review the latest technology in the manufacturing sector.

Owino said automation of manufacturing processes could help Kenyan producers to reduce its labor costs and hence sell goods at competitive prices.

The East African nation has a target of creating 1.3 million new jobs in the manufacturing sector by 2022.

IEA said digitization is capital intensive and therefore involves high upfront costs but is cheaper in the long run because it encourages production of goods in economic scale.

Owino said globalization and liberalization of international trade has made high cost producers of manufactured goods lose market share to low cost producers.

He noted that countries can no longer use tariffs to protect their local manufacturers from an influx of cheaper goods.

The IEA CEO observed that Kenya should focus on expanding the manufacturing sector because it will catapult the country into middle income status. Enditem