Thinking outside the box, where is the box anyway?

3D Printing technologies ready to revolutionize small-scale manufacturing. A group of students in Tanzania have received seed fund to manufacture teaching aids for primary and secondary schools in Tanzania. 

What do you want to do? the question I asked industrial engineering students from University of Dar es Salaam during the career guidance session at the University main campus. They all look at my face as if the question was not clear. I concur somehow the question was not that clear. I rephrased it, do you want to be an industrial engineer when you finish school? some realised It was a tricky question, for those who responded yes, I asked them where do industrial engineers work? most replied on manufacturing industries. Then the two big questions pop-up on my mind, how many manufacturing industries do we have in Tanzania? I asked them the second one, Do you think you can own an industry?

Manufacturing Industry, The branch of manufacture and trade based on the fabrication, processing, or preparation of products from raw materials and commodities. This includes all foods, chemicals, textiles, machines, and equipment - Web Definition.

I’m not expert on industries or something, I’m just a techie who has passion on innovation and entrepreneurship who appears to understand the importance of encouraging youths to establish their own innovative small-scale businesses instead of waiting to be employed. Getting back to the real question, can you own a small scale manufacturing industry the answer is yes, at least to me. Although 90 percent of the students didn’t concur with me when I suggested it to them for the first time. For them, manufacturing simply means having heavy machinery and very large space with massive investments, employing over few thousands of people on production. Funny thing, from their face you could see they wanted to be part of those few thousands of people employed by the big industry. I knew this is the notion they had in mind being raised on families of mixed economies with the daddy going to work and getting paid at the end of the month you will definitely want to be employed too.

Students are told to think outside the box but do they even know where is the box. I say kick out the box review the concept once again.

— Jumanne Mtambalike (@J4Mtambalike) August 15, 2015

Students are told to think outside the box but do they even know where is the box. I say kick out the box and let go through the conception process once again. So, I had my friend, founder of Kwetu Chalks, a small scale chalks manufacturing business in Dar es Salaam. I wanted him to share his story. I wanted him to tell us how did he find his box because the current box holds the wrong narrative that manufacturing can only happen in China. What we are supposed to do is to the sell the output of production rather than being part of the production process that is our old box. Tanzania is among few countries in Africa which has excessive amounts of  ground Calcium Carbonate which contains the same chemical composition with whiteboard chalks. A tool that is used by thousands of primary and secondary schools in Africa and even some of the higher learning institutions. He realized chalks is something the use every day and they can’t just stay without it. This is the box that my friend found and started to think outside it.

Connecting the dots, I have been struggling to understand what are the innovative ideas? Even sometimes confusing between innovation and invention. In some other places, some other time, with other people, with some other needs, chalks production can never be an innovative ideas since anyone with the right tools and resources can implement it but what about on our box? is this the right innovation or invention or it something else? that is not the core motive behind me writing this article. My mission was to say to those poor student who are still thinking inside and outside the same box that their parents and the parents before them has been thinking on, to kick out the box and understand they can do something better.

We can still buy the machinery from the North and make textile in the South competitively, J.K.Nyerere on South-South economic collaboration

— Jumanne Mtambalike (@J4Mtambalike) August 15, 2015

I know the moment we left the session most of them still considered small-scale manufacturing as a myth and there is nothing they can do about it. I’m very sure few of them will understand instead of selling imported beverages why not import a machinery from China and process a very small portion of the 96% percent unprocessed fruits of 2.75 Millions tons of fruits produced in Tanzania each year. And I repeat buy machinery from China if you can and if you want to compete but you can also make your own machinery, but that might be another box to consider. As Mwalimu Nyerere said on his famous speech about South-South economic collaboration. I quote him “ We can still buy the machinery from the North and make textile in the South competitively”. Possibly he also saw this box that our current leaders struggling to think inside it.

Resources:

Nyerere Speech on South - South Collaboration - Julius Nyerere Is manufacturing a myth in Tanzania- Jumanne Mtambalike Manufacturing sector in Tanzania - Danida