On Tuesday, 22nd October saw the launch of a range of locally assembled computer through a partnership between Moi University and jp.ik. Jp.ik is a Portuguese Information and Technology company that has set up base at the Moi University’s Rivatex plant.
The launch was witnessed by the ICT PS, Jerome Ochieng, Moi University’s Vice Chancellor Mr. Kosgey, Nick Broda, the head of Sales for jp.ik, the General Manager for Intel, Ms Susan Mbogo.
The product under the MU brand are desk top computers, laptops, servers and NUCs. All these are targeted at SMEs, University students as well as Government institutions.
The Numbers
Investment: The project has seen jp.ik and Moi University invest over USD 5M towards the assembly plant.
Capacity: The plant has a capacity to produce 4500 devices per day translating to over 100,000 devices per month in 3 shifts.
Employment: The plant currently employs 100 people directly and over 1000 people indirectly.
Projects:The plant has assembled 150,000 ICT devices for the Kenya Digital Literacy Program and 70,000 tablets for the recent government census.
Nick Broda, jp.ik’s Head of Sales Worldwide, is confident of the plants capacity, and is reaching out to distributors so that the products can have a wide distribution network. “We have done our market research and established that there is a big market for these products and are fully invested in developing this market. We are able to customize our devices based on customers’ demand which gives us a competitive edge over what is already in the market.
As Kenyans are encouraged to buy Kenya and Build Kenya, the PS of ICT, Mr Jerome Ochieng could not hide his joy about the local assembly plan and the products it has launched. He further more promised to push Counties to purchase these devices and support the initiative.
“It is our joy and pride as a government when we see local universities taking up the challenge of growing manufacturing in this country which is one of the pillars in our big 4 agenda. I urge Kenyans to buy these locally assembled computers because buying Kenya ultimately builds Kenya.
Prof Kosgey hope to make Eldoret the regional ICT hub with this initiative :We are positioning our university to participate in the realization of the big four agenda under the manufacturing component and also look forward to making Eldoret an ICT innovation Hub.
Intel’s GM, Susan Mbogo was also excited about the partnership. The computers run on the latest Intel based technology, which promise to give pother brands a run for their money.
The Products
- MU Fortune Slim Book and MU Trigono which are both 360° convertible laptops
- MU Fortune Slim desktop
- MU Fortune Liva Z Plus Vpro which is a mini PC
- MU Fortune desktop
- MU Fortune All in One
- MU Fortune Workstation
- MU Fortune Workbook
Price range: The laptops retail from Ksh 50,000 to Ksh 100,000 .
Technology: Thy run on the latest Intel based technology and Microsoft’s Windows 10.
Target market: They are designed to appeal to the young spirits and on the go users.
Other properties: Over 11 hrs battery life.
Check out the laptops.