Time flies with great content! Renew in to keep enjoying all our premium content.
Prime
Sun King stirs up competition with solar smartphones, TVs assembly plant
A sales person at Sun King Kenya exhibition stand engages with a customer during the Nation Shopping Festival at The University of Nairobi grounds on December 7, 2023.
Off-grid solar firm Sun King has intensified competition in Kenya’s locally assembled phones and TV market with the launch of a new production plant in Nairobi, challenging the dominance of players such as M-Kopa, EADAK, and Vision Plus.
The Nairobi-based company, which supplies off-grid solar panels and solar-powered electronics across Kenya, Nigeria, and 10 other African countries, has opened its first plant on the continent in the capital, with a second one planned for Nigeria.
The new facility has started with assembly of smartphones and TVs, with plans to gradually expand into other solar products and electronics that the firm already sells alongside its off-grid panels.
Currently, the government offers import duty waivers on smartphone and television components, and locally assembled phones are exempt from excise duty, a policy that will help Sun King lower its production costs.
At the same time, the company’s entry is expected to heighten competition among the few firms already assembling such devices locally, including M-Kopa, East Africa Device Assembly Kenya (EADAK), and Vision Plus, which is currently the only local assembler of TV sets in Kenya.
Sun King said the new plant is designed to cut “logistics costs and carbon emissions, shorten supply chains, and ensure product availability for customers.”
“These investments help the continent capture more economic value generated by its growing demand for energy and technology,” it said in a statement.
Juma Mukhwana, Principal Secretary at the State Department of Industry, said the move demonstrates “courage and confidence” in the Kenyan economy, and is set to boost the country’s manufacturing industry.
“Opening our own … facility in Kenya gives us the scale to deliver more efficiently, the flexibility to innovate faster, and the foundation to grow a resilient manufacturing ecosystem here in Africa,” noted Sun King’s chief operating officer Kota Kojima.
“For our customers, it means faster access to products and quality solutions made closer to home.”
Until now, Sun King has been importing all its solar panels and electronics from abroad for distribution across Kenya and other markets.
The Nairobi plant marks the first time the company is assembling products from its inventory locally.
The local operation is also expected to expand into other items in its product line, including refrigerators, water pumps, and audio devices, all designed to run on off-grid solar energy.
