Kayoola solar bus to fly Uganda’s flag at UN technology Expo

March 23, 2016 in Companies, Foreign News, Infrastructure, Technology & Telecoms, Travel & Tourism by Editor

KAMPALA, MARCH23- Uganda’s nascent automotive industry will get a unique shot at global exposure, when Kiira Motors Kayoola solar bus takes centre stage at the sixth edition of the Sustainable Innovation Expo that will run on the sidelines of the United Nations Environmental Assembly due in Nairobi from May 23-27.

Kiira Motors Kayoola Solar bus has been selected to feature as the lead green mobility technology exhibitor at the expo, by organizers Climate Action.

“Given Kiira Motors efforts in driving the development of Africa’s first solar powered bus, it is a pleasure to showcase your technology to highlight the high levels of sustainable innovation taking place in Uganda,” Climate Action’s Commercial Director Lindsay Baxter says in a March 16 invite to Kiira Motors Chief Executive Officer Paul Isaac Musasizi.

Musasizi tells 256BN that showcasing the Kayoola Solar bus will be an opportunity for KMC to demonstrate its commitment to championing green mobility solutions for Africa from a practical standpoint because while “ other companies are still talking about it, we have a concept vehicle to demonstrate that the development of complex engineering systems that advance possibilities to meet Africa’s primary needs would need sustainable development goals and ensure that our capacity to meet the needs of today does not compromise the capacity of tomorrows generation to meet their needs.”

The highly billed event is expected to attract more than 1200 delegates from 163 countries including ministers, diplomats, business leaders and technocrats.

Professor Sandy Stevens Tickodri-Togboa will lead the Kiira Motors Corporation delegation to the expo and UNEA in deference to his role as the minister for science, technology and innovation and KMC’s chief mentor.

Musasizi will be complemented by product development and marketing teams who will be touting the functionality, design and green attributes of not just the Kayoola but KMC’s other vehicles.

“We are delighted to be part of this and we are hoping that on top of us continuing to showcase the capabilities of technology innovation that is sustainable and environmentally aware, we should be able to have some informal discussions with the different aspirations represented at the assembly, to further seek friends of sustainable technology innovation in Africa and cultivate opportunities’ for partnerships in the different aspects underlying technology innovation,” Musasizi says.

256BN understands that the Kayoola Solar bus which relies entirely on an electric drive system is increasingly being seen as a true heritage of African science and technology having been the first electric and then solar bus designed and built in Africa.

“This choice of the Kayoola bus for the expo goes a long away to demonstrate that the world is endorsing and recognising that Africa, Uganda and Kiira motors in particular are now seated on the high table of sustainable innovation for mobility and that if  this innovation is facilitated with the right mix of policy, patronage, funding and partnership for capacity development, the opportunities that lie ahead in creating an indigenous technology drawing from the natural resources of Africa, especially solar energy can become reality, “ Musasizi says adding that such aspirations are not farfetched.

“It is happening and we can go from concept to production in a very short period. There is no better way to demonstrate that the world is ready to embrace and partner with us than to identify us and put us at the UN Environmental Assembly and sustainable technology expo, the centre, where everything is happening,” he tells 256BN.