Industry Spearheads National Industrialization Policy Review

The State Department for Industry is spearheading the review of the National Industrialization Policy, 2012, to strengthen its capacity to spur manufacturing in the country. 
The review being undertaken by Afritrade Consulting Group has also brought together stakeholders such as One Acre Fund’s Tupande, Kenya Association of Manufacturers and youth MSMEs from different counties in pooling synergies towards developing a robust policy.
Director of Industries (Research, Industrial Data and Partnerships) Stanley Koske, who is leading the team in a two-day workshop, has noted the need to harness vast Kenyan talent, creativity, and energy into manufacturing.
The manufacturing sector has experienced stagnation in its contribution to GDP at 7.3%, with medium and large industries contributing less than 5%. To this, Koske noted the government’s commitment to creating an enabling environment, through supportive policies, infrastructure development, and access to finance, to unlock the full potential of our industries.
The review of the 2012 NIP will also address the low value addition and inward looking, further opening up the Kenyan market to both backward and forward linkages.
“We are looking forward to a people-centered policy that addresses issues around access to financing, low production costs and access to raw materials. We commend the government for the establishment of the County Aggregation and Industrial Parks, which we feel will serve to bridge the gaps in manufacturing,” noted Jacob Ochieng, a partner of Phabi Peanut Production based in Kisumu.
Afritrade Consultant David Mugambi said the review will also serve to prepare a clear framework of implementation that will ensure market access for regional integration and export promotion through standardization.
“The review is expected to capture issues around circularity and green manufacturing, in addition to bringing in the devolution as a support for CAIPS for rural manufacturing. An inclusive policy that will also align with a current implementable framework, is our target,” noted Afritrade Director,  Dr. Caroline Saroni.
KAM Industrial Sector's Manager Jackson Wambua noted the need to balance production costs for Kenyan industries to remain competitive.
"By Competitiveness we mean access to finances; bill of materials that is usually compromised by importation of raw materials; cost of energy and labour as well as transport & logistics." 
Tupande, that facilitated the workshop has been spearheading an end-to-end system that ensured that farmers were also benefitting from the agro-processing of various value chains. 
Tupande's Head of Government Relations and Policy, Dennis Tirop, who sponsored the event, noted the need for collaboration to ensure the policy also addresses gaps in green manufacturing.
The policy is expected to also address issues of skills mismatch and skills gaps, with a number of stakeholders noting the need to develop proper guidelines for identifying and addressing the skill gaps.