Uganda’s industrial skills training center takes shape

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The long-awaited industrial skills training and production center project is taking shape following the completion of its construction phase.

The Uganda Industrial Skills Training Centre, a brainchild of the Uganda Industrial Research Institute (UIRI), is supported by a USD 30 million (111.2 billion Shillings) grant from the People’s Republic of China, to provide practical training to budding industrialists.

UIRI Executive Director Prof Charles Kwesiga says that the government is looking at the project as a key factor for unlocking the potential in technology, human capital development and boosting industrialization.

The project, positioned on a 15-acre-piece of land in Namanve, will also be the country’s national platform for the production of agricultural implements, food and agricultural processing machinery, electrical devices and equipment and automotive parts and components.

Prof Kwesiga notes that although UIRI has been offering some of the services to different startup industrialists, they are more likely to multiply their efforts reaching out to a huge population once the project implementation starts.

He says the facility will offer no-cost training to Ugandans, from all educational backgrounds. The students will also be equipped with pre-business and entrepreneur development skills for sustainability in order to use the acquired skills and start up their own jobs.

Although the structures are substantially complete, a Monitoring report from the Ministry of Finance shows that non-availability of counterpart funding as per the Memorandum of Understanding is likely to derail the recruitment, training of instructors and equipping of the facility.

However, Prof Kwesiga optimistically stresses that the centre will soon be opening its gates after receiving government assurance for funding.

Joseph kitagande, the head of UIRI’s business development centre says that it would be unrealistic for UIRI to give practical skills to students and don’t equip them with Pre-business enterprises development.

The Industrial Skills Training Centre is part of the government’s broader aspiration dubbed skilling Uganda which is intended to popularize skills development as one of the means to fight unemployment and increase household incomes for every citizen.

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