Industrialization: One step forward two step back

From firestone/bridgestone to Yana now they are on import and distribution of"cheap" Chinese tyres.
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You have to understand that the cost of production in Kenya is expensive

Locally produced materials are by far more expensive that those imported from Shaina. If you cant beat the join them.

hizo tyre zao zilikua down.

Sad in more ways than one.

One step - two steps

Ok son?

Naushad Meralli is a savvy businessman…so I fail to understand why he invests in non starters like Eveready and Yana. Another one is the Interconsumer Products dude (Kinuthia?), who recently opted to start a diaper manufacturing factory in Kenya rather than keep importing from Shaina. That didn’t make sense to me. Sure, the guy talked about creating jobs and all that do-gooder crap, but unless he’s receiving a massive tax holiday or planning to engage in some creative accounting, I just don’t see it working.

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The fortunes of Yana tyres speak volumes about the quality of its products.

Now those are the real investors in this country, people who make mistakes out in the open and learn from them, Actual billionaires who actually have been there and done all that. Not the likes of people who hide their money and leave people to suspect how wealthy they are because in reality they are just corrupt thieves who pillage this country to the bare minimum. These so called billionaires cant even give a small lecture in the university because they have nothing smart to say. So you best respect the above mentioned people since they are making a positive difference in this here country

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Don’t get me wrong, I have lots of respect for them. It’s just that the whole point of doing business is to make profits. Therefore it’s only natural for businesses to pick options that maximize profits for them. Even in America, insanely profitable companies like Apple can afford to build in America and still make massive profits, but they choose to go to China anyway. Safaricom has Vodafone as a majority investor, you’d expect them to give Chinese companies a wide berth, but they regularly award contracts to Huawei and ZTE. So from a purely business viewpoint, Merali didn’t make a smart move setting up a tyre factory here. Maybe he thought with Kibaki in charge the cost of doing business would reduce drastically, but it wasn’t to be.

On business Daily Below: Wondering, if the Kenyan market is that competitive to them according to the DN article. why even think there will be any luck in the other countries.
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Just like that? Why don’t we challenge the government to create more condusive biz environments? Or is it because they are in bed with the Chinese? Reminds me of a story about nyeri town posted here the other day

The reasons why China is the production center of the whole world are many. Cheap labour, skilled population, very well laid infrastructure.
I don’t support importing tyres but I know that the only reason a business exists is to maximise profits.

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Creating conducive biz environment cannot be done pap! Like said before, factors of production are too expensive in Kenya.

Land- very scarce and the little available goes for almost same price as Singapore. Most tom dick and harry wakifika age of 40 years start looking for a shamba so that when they die kusikuwe na aibu ati fulani alizikwa kwa cemetery. Then kuna mambo ya ancestral land beefs.

Capital- interest rates north of 20% and expect an investor to settle & borrow? When will he ever break even if all profits are used to settle interest?

Labour- skilled labor force is little and quite expensive. That’s why someone would fly to India with his entire family for an operation and the total costs be less than 1/4 of going to a hospital in Nairobi.

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we seriously need to do something about our manufacturing sector, of late I have been noticing so many railway lines that go to no mans land at Industrial area, meaning once upon a time most of these factories were working optimamly and they ferried their goods using rail. There is no way we gonna industrialise without funding research in science n technology instead of rot learning. Our proffesors and educators have a lot on their hands. We manufacture very little hingingour support on tourism and IT which are not massive employers anyway.

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Energy costs are very high in this country compared to other manufacturing hubs in Africa like Egypt. Halafu, we are told the bills are going to reduce, something I have waited for in the last eight months to no avail.

if you can prove that your bill hasn’t reduced, Ministry of Energy will give you 10K

In addition to cheap (slave) labour, China is willing to destroy their environment to quench the demand for industrial products.
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20150402-the-worst-place-on-earth
I’m not sure I want us headed in that direction

Just a thought…the same people saying “Buy Shyna This, Buy Shyna That” are the same who will be writing here tomorrow that The Government “needs to create jobs”.

Kweli Wafrika vichwa ni za kubeba meno…

Where is Dunlop manufactured?

Its a phenomenon where the super rich accumulate more and the great majority become poorer. This is characterized by gigantic corporations such as safcom, nakummatt, naivas, all sorts of shopping malls, huge companies majoring in speculation etc whose financial power rival that of the government. Apart from encouraging a degenerative consumer culture that is of little value, wealth is continuously accumulated by a few people. An average person will consider New malls and huge flasshy buildings as development, but in reality, they are actually negative stuff. Those malls and nice buildings and roads belong to a few people and are there to take the wealth from you to the ultra wealthy person who never relinquishes it because one person does not need to spend that much.
Its not only happening in kenya, but its all over the world. A starter has a little chance against companies such as safcom, uber, MS, Etc. The acccumulation happens continuously up to a break point. And then you know what happens. The bigger problem is that its global, so the pressure is contained and the breakpoint could be bad. The world really seemes headed for a dead end, at least for the human race. After that, a radical change will be needed.