President Kibaki and
Aga Khan Open State of the Art Apparel Plant in
Kenya
Ethical
and social context of investing for development;
cotton sector revival encouraged
Speech
by His Highness the Aga Khan at the Opening
(View on-demand
video of the ceremony)
Athi River, Kenya, 19th December 2003
- Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki today officially
opened the US$7.2 million Alltex EPZ Limited plant
in the Export Processing Zone at Athi River in the
presence of His Highness the Aga Khan, Imam (spiritual
leader) of the Shia Ismaili Muslims and Chairman
of the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED).
Alltex
is a state-of-the-art facility that has created
employment for over 2,000 Kenyans, over 80% of them
women. The plant, one of the largest textile factories
in the zone and the only one that is purpose-built,
has set benchmarks in technology, training and productivity.
Its pioneering welfare and childcare facilities
rank it as a regional industry leader. Alltex is
a 100% export-oriented apparel manufacturing unit
created to benefit from access to the US$ 100 billion
United States market for apparel made possible by
U.S. legislation under the African Growth and Opportunities
Act (AGOA). The company is a joint venture between
Industrial Promotion Services (Kenya) Limited (IPS)
and Global Readymade Garments Industry LLC of Qatar.
Taking
the occasion to outline the approach taken by the
Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) to economic
development, the Aga Khan said "investment
decisions are based more on the prospects for better
lives for the constituencies of people that will
be impacted by the investments and their results
rather than on bottom-line profitability."
He went on to situate this approach within the wider
context of the historical role of the Ismaili Imamat
for whom "the meaning of 'quality of life'
extends to the entire ethical and social context
in which people live, and not only to their material
well-being measured over generation after generation."
"My
government welcomes this investment," said
President Kibaki, recognising the achievement represented
by Alltex as well as the long-standing commitment
of the Aga Khan and his institutions to the development
of Kenya. He said that a recent US$32 million equity
injection by IPS's shareholders "has provided
a clear signal to investors that there is now a
hospitable equivalent for investment in Kenya."
"It is also," the President continued,
"in line with our aspiration of adding value
to a wide range of products in the economy."
He cited as an example of the same approach, the
way in which the cotton industry had been a major
catalyst for the Asian tiger economies.
Elaborating
on the Imamat's holistic vision of development,
as prescribed by the faith of Islam, the Aga Khan
said that it was about "investing in people,
in their pluralism, in their intellectual pursuit,
and search for new and useful knowledge, just as
much as in material resources." "But,"
he continued, "it is also about investing with
a social conscience inspired by the ethics of Islam."
Distinguishing AKFED as a for-profit development
agency investing "on criteria far different
from those of a straightforward commercial investor,"
the Aga Khan highlighted the fact that these investments
occurred in sectors of national and regional priority,
"creating new human and material resources
for the future...adapting new technologies...and
developing new national and international markets."
"For us," he said, "responding appropriately
to economic opportunity means finding ways of positively
impacting people's lives." The Aga Khan made
reference to pioneering social services such as
the crèche at Alltex and programmes for HIV/AIDS
sufferers.
President
Kibaki also shared his conviction that Kenya had
the potential to be a key supplier of textile goods
in the international textile market." He appealed
for "industrial harmony" saying "we
shall a create climate which ensures that factory
owners get a fair return for their investment,"he
said. "They, in return, should respect the
rights of workers to a fair wage and conditions
of work." Kenya's Industry Minister Mukisa
Kituyi expressed the government's strong support
for Alltex's plans for backward integration and
spoke of encouraging signs that the U.S. Congress
might extend the period during which the advantages
of AGOA can be enjoyed. He also warned that in January
2005, the AGOA quota advantage would end leaving
manufacturers with only an export duty advantage.
Regionalisation,
the Aga Khan noted, was one of the ways in which
countries of the developing world could become more
effective in the use of limited resources. He observed
that the planned East African customs union could
whilst it widened markets and growth potential,
"help refine and strengthen efficiencies in
this country." The AKDN, he emphasised, remains
committed to the regional approach. The Aga Khan
urged, however, that the East African countries
"widen the horizons of their regionalisation
endeavours to include all the key development institutions
and resources of civil society." "It is
when that happens, and only when that happens,"
he said, " that the totality of the region's
human resources will be fully and optimally mobilised,
including the capacities of the NGOs, voluntary
agencies and liberal professions."
The
Aga Khan explained that the Imamat's approach "has
often meant taking courageous but calculated steps
to create opportunity in environments that are fragile
and complex." "Rehabilitating economies
arising out of civil conflict or internal turmoil
has been a challenge we have undertaken in environments
as varied as Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Mozambique,
Tajikistan and Uganda," he said, citing projects
in telecommunications, tourism, power generation
and microfinance in those countries.
Conscious
of global concerns about the working environments
and conditions in the textile industry in various
parts of the developing world, Alltex has created
one of the most up-to-date apparel manufacturing
facilities in Kenya. Its social amenities amongst
the best available in any industry in the country.
Alltex has been particularly commended for its crèche
which is arguably the only one of its kind in the
East African region. Alltex, which has doubled its
initial capacity within six months will, during
2004, require fabric equivalent to Kenya's entire
cotton production for 2003. The company has plans
for backward integration into fabric manufacturing
and sixteen hectares have been earmarked for expansion
needs.
For
further information, please contact:
he Information Department
Aiglemont, 60270 Gouvieux, France
Telephone: +33.3.44.58.40.00
Fax: +33.3.44.58.42.79
E-mail: amyn.ahamed@aiglemont.org
Website: www.akdn.org
*
NOTES *
IPS is an affiliate of the Aga Khan Fund for Economic
Development (AKFED) which promotes private sector
initiatives and entrepreneurship through equity
investment particularly in Africa and Asia. AKFED
is the economic development arm of the Aga Khan
Development Network, which is a group of private,
international, non-denominational development agencies
working to improve living conditions and opportunities
for people in specific regions of the developing
world. IPS has been providing venture capital, technical
assistance and management support with the objective
of encouraging and expanding private enterprise
in Eastern Africa since the early 1960s.
