Kenya gets ahead of Uganda in digital inclusion by a million locally-assembled smartphones

Uganda's plans of digital inclusion for SMEs

At the start of May, the Federation of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises met with the Innovation Village to sign a digital literacy memorandum of understanding. Through the signing, the Innovation Village team undertook the task of figuring out why SMEs are slow to pick up technology and digital tools.

During the meeting, Arthur Mukembo, Innovation Village's future lab lead, said that there is a need for a wider stakeholder engagement to reduce the price of devices, which have been made expensive by a relatively unfriendly tax environment.

Smartphone production in Kenya

Addressing the upcoming rollout, Kenya's ICT Cabinet Secretary Eliud Owalo said the affordability of smart devices has been a major hindrance to digital inclusion, hence the need to produce the gadgets locally.

The low-cost smartphones are being assembled at the Konza Technopolis in Malili, Machakos County.

“Based on feasibility studies undertaken, we can locally assemble smartphones at a unit cost of about $40. We’ve partnered with the private sector to ensure in the next two months, we can roll out our first consignment of low-cost smartphones,” said Owalo during the official launch of the Information Communication and Technology (ICT) week at the Nairobi Safari Park.

Kenya makes move towards digital inclusion/Man/Pixabay Pulse

Moving toward digital inclusion

However, the digital literacy programme for SMEs in Uganda is still in its early stages seeking to understand the landscape within which small businesses operate as well as get a proper picture of the use and adoption of technology in running small businesses.

“We want to understand what the gaps are. What Uganda needs to do to fully leverage opportunities in transforming the economy through small business,” Mukembo said.