Textile collaboration weave success for Kenya

Close ties with China play vital role in training leading experts in the field

A cloth is not woven from a single thread, says a Chinese proverb, implying that working together is the key to achieving success.

Kenya's Moi University, located in the country's western town of Eldoret, set a classic example of successful collaboration when it teamed up with China's Donghua University, formerly known as China Textile University, which is based in Shanghai, to help revive Kenya's textile industry.

The textile business in Kenya was booming until the 1990s, according to Stanley Bett, general manager for corporate services at Rivatex East Africa Ltd, a leading integrated textile company.

After Kenya introduced structural adjustment programs initiated by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, liberalization of the market allowed imports of cheap synthetic fibers such as polyester and nylon. Since these products were more affordable compared with cotton fibers produced at Rivatex, the company faced stiff competition and eventually had to close shop, Bett said.

Rivatex wasn't the only one facing serious challenges. As in many African countries, Kenya's entire textile industry was in trouble following liberalization of the market, and many factories had to shut down.

Two universities came to their rescue, Bett said. "Moi University acquired our facility in 2007 — at a time when we had obsolete machines — and the modernization process started in 2010."

Li Wei, deputy president of Donghua University, said their collaboration with the Kenyan university started in 2008, and was stepped up in 2015, when the first — and currently the only — Confucius Institute related to textile and apparel was established at Moi University.

Joint efforts

More than 30 faculty members and students from Donghua University have visited the Confucius Institute at Moi University as volunteers over the years, Li said.

Buoyed by the joint efforts of the institutions, the Kenyan government deemed it fit to support the textile industry's modernization process.

"In 2017, the Ministry of Investments provided us (financial) support, which helped us advance our modernization drive for two years. In 2019, then Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta came and commissioned the new Rivatex factory. Currently, our level of modernization is at 90 percent," said Bett, the general manager.

The collaboration between Moi University and Donghua University has helped Rivatex accelerate the skills of its workers, so that they are able to handle all the modern machinery acquired since the factory was revived, Bett added.

Li, from Donghua University, said the collaboration between the two institutions started with education. "Then, we worked with local companies, guiding them on advanced textile technologies and helping them make progress. Based on our successful collaboration with Kenya (in this field), we plan to expand (our collaboration) in other Belt and Road countries."

Isaac Kosgey, vice-chancellor of Moi University, said the institution has benefited a lot from collaborating with Donghua University, which is a global leader in textile engineering.

"Professors from there help us get the right direction in terms of training and capacity building for our lecturers and students, as well as our technicians," he said, adding that by working together, they can train the students better and equip the Confucius Institute lab with modern textile machinery.

Josphat Igadwa Mwasiagi, a textile engineering professor at Moi University who earned his PhD from Donghua University in 2009, said the collaboration between the two universities has played a significant role in training leading textile experts in Kenya.

"We have had a lot of exchanges since we signed our first memorandum of understanding. For example, we have staff members from this department who went to Donghua University for short courses. We also have undergraduate and postgraduate students who went there for training," Mwasiagi said.