Already active on the continent with two production units, the LG Electronics group could soon launch a new one in Tanzania.
Present at the International Fair in Dar es Salaam, July 1-5, East Africa Director Moses Marji confirmed that the company is considering the installation of an assembly plant in the country. In addition to the needs of Tanzania’s growing middle class, the Korean group also sees the country as an ideal gateway to serve the entire East African Community, a single market of six countries (the Burundi, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan and Tanzania) and 170 million inhabitants. Quoted by our colleague Daily News, the CEO believes that “… setting up a factory in the country will allow customers to feel that they are using their own products (locally assembled)”.
Only downside, not least, the business climate. Cautiously, Moses Marji recalls that “several elements must be taken into consideration before reaching a final investment decision and this in particular to take into account current regulatory changes (harder with respect to foreign operators, ed) “.
The head of LG also refrained from revealing whether the firm planned to mount the project with a local partner, as it is for example the case in Algeria, with the SME Bomare Company, which produces since November 2013 screens for the Asian multinational. In the event of final validation, the Tanzanian assembly plant would become LG Electronics’ third largest production unit on the continent, after South Africa and Algeria.
Global electronics giant, LG Electronics is the best known subsidiary of the LG Group conglomerate, the second largest Korean chaebol (behind Samsung) with a turnover of more than 140 billion dollars.
