Editorial Desk 
The Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) is set to host the 5th edition of the Changamka Shopping Festival which seeks to advocate for the uptake of locally manufactured goods in the spirit of Buy Kenya Build Kenya.
The festival will kick off from November 1-5 at KICC, Nairobi even as it makes its first strides in the lakeside city of Kisumu from December 1-4 at the Aga Khan Hall.
It will feature 100 exhibitors from sectors such as food and beverage, plastic and rubber sector, agro-processing, metal and allied, electrical and electronics sector among others that will participate in the exhibitions.
Speaking during the launch of the festival, Cabinet Secretary (CS) Ministry of Industrialization, Trade and Enterprise Development Betty Maina affirmed the government’s commitment to prioritizing manufacturing to scale up the economic growth and job creation in the country, emphasizing the need of intensifying local manufacturing to meet both local and international markets demands.
“A liberalized economy supports and encourages a significant level of domestic consumption to support local value chains and generates employment. The Buy Kenya Build Kenya initiative will ensure sustainable consumption of locally manufactured goods and will go a long way in creating public confidence in locally manufactured goods and services,” said Maina.
KAM Chairman Rajan Shah underscored the key role industrialization has played in revolutionizing economies of different countries globally, urging Kenya to borrow a leaf in order to achieve economic transformation.
He further urged local manufacturers to not only produce high-quality products to remain competitive in the market but to also focus on meeting the market’s needs by producing goods that the consumers need.
“We need to build and create industries to industrialize this country. This also means that as Kenyans, including the government, both at the national and county level, we need to promote locally produced goods,” said Shah.
In order to encourage the uptake of locally produced goods by foreign markets, Shah encourages the need for increasing, improving and enhancing the awareness of locally produced goods as platforms such as the Changamka festival provide such an opportunity for local manufacturers.
With the manufacturing sector contributing 7.2 per cent to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), KAM aims to increase it to 15 per cent as the festival seeks to increase the uptake of locally manufactured goods.
KAM Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Anthony Mwangi noted that the festival also seeks to dismantle the long-held belief that local goods are not of high quality and reduce the overreliance on imports.
The festival was first launched in 2016 to celebrate and create awareness of the diverse and high-quality products that local industries produce and comes at a time Kenyans are grappling with the high cost of living.
