In 2014, Uganda unveiled The Kiira Motors Project, it was hailed as Uganda’s leap into the automotive industry. Kiira EV was one of the outcomes of that Project that would then expand into the Kiira Motors Corporation. It was a step in the right direction (at least on the mindset that informed this decision).
It’s now 2024, and the Kiira Motor Corporation now also prides in its EV buses among its products. However, Kiira Motor Corporation is yet to have a fully adopted product in the local market.
At Africa Nxt Gen, we propose a reorientation of the African Industrialization Strategies. Although Kiira was a project in the right direction, it missed out on the product-market fit. If one observes the logistics and market realities of the African environment, the biggest driver comes down to the motorcycles and the TukTuks or three-wheeled cycles.
Thus, Kiira Motors should have addressed this market first and found a way of delivering an African bodaboda or Tuktuk on the market. Why? There’s already sufficient market for a solution based on this. Kiira EV would then have phased to have the small trucks and small passenger vans (taxis) onto the second stage. It’s at the third stage at Kiira Motors should have broken out into the passenger bus and the salon car segment.
This also speaks to many other African Industrialization strategies that attempt to leapfrog the market realities. The market is clearly speaking to something. In the case of Uganda, the market has shown demand for both the Bodaboda and the Tuktuk. These support both the physical movement of persons and products. They’re the cornerstone of African logistics.
Therefore, the future of Africa’s industrialization strategies should attempt to exploit and explore current market realities and build infrastructure for those existing realities. It’s in these exploits that African countries can find competitive advantages.
Countries such as Uganda, Kenya and Ghana have an opportunity in the two-wheeler and probably the three-wheeler market. And it’s easier to build an eco-system around this market since a number of elements in this eco-system already exist. These include the many boda-boda mechanics, the batteries, and the bodaboda riders to embrace these innovations.
Why African Countries Should Reorient Their Industrialization Strategies
In 2014, Uganda unveiled The Kiira Motors Project, it was hailed as Uganda’s leap into the automotive industry. Kiira EV was one of the outcomes of that Project that would then expand into the Kiira Motors Corporation. It was a step in the right direction (at least on the mindset that informed this decision).
It’s now 2024, and the Kiira Motor Corporation now also prides in its EV buses among its products. However, Kiira Motor Corporation is yet to have a fully adopted product in the local market.
At Africa Nxt Gen, we propose a reorientation of the African Industrialization Strategies. Although Kiira was a project in the right direction, it missed out on the product-market fit. If one observes the logistics and market realities of the African environment, the biggest driver comes down to the motorcycles and the TukTuks or three-wheeled cycles.
Thus, Kiira Motors should have addressed this market first and found a way of delivering an African bodaboda or Tuktuk on the market. Why? There’s already sufficient market for a solution based on this. Kiira EV would then have phased to have the small trucks and small passenger vans (taxis) onto the second stage. It’s at the third stage at Kiira Motors should have broken out into the passenger bus and the salon car segment.
This also speaks to many other African Industrialization strategies that attempt to leapfrog the market realities. The market is clearly speaking to something. In the case of Uganda, the market has shown demand for both the Bodaboda and the Tuktuk. These support both the physical movement of persons and products. They’re the cornerstone of African logistics.
Therefore, the future of Africa’s industrialization strategies should attempt to exploit and explore current market realities and build infrastructure for those existing realities. It’s in these exploits that African countries can find competitive advantages.
Countries such as Uganda, Kenya and Ghana have an opportunity in the two-wheeler and probably the three-wheeler market. And it’s easier to build an eco-system around this market since a number of elements in this eco-system already exist. These include the many boda-boda mechanics, the batteries, and the bodaboda riders to embrace these innovations.
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