By Ben Musanje
Ten years ago, Namunkekera was the kind of village motorists barely noticed.
The roads were dusty, the landscape dominated by maize fields, and employment opportunities were scarce. Young people left in search of work, while those who remained depended largely on subsistence farming. Land was cheap, businesses were few, and evenings fell quietly over a community with little hint of the transformation that lay ahead.
Today, that same village is almost unrecognizable.
Thousands of factory workers stream through its streets every morning. Rental houses rise where gardens once stood. Restaurants bustle from dawn until late into the night. Property values have soared, and conversations that once revolved around harvests now focus on factory shifts, production targets and export markets.
This is what residents simply call the Kapeeka effect.
At the heart of this transformation lies the China-Uganda Liao Shen Industrial Park, better known as Kapeeka Industrial Park, a sprawling 5.2-square-kilometre manufacturing hub in Nakaseke District that has quietly become one of Uganda’s most ambitious industrial success stories.
Officially opened in 2015, the park represents more than a cluster of factories. It has become the engine driving economic change across Namunkekera and the surrounding communities, creating jobs, attracting investment and reshaping livelihoods in ways few imagined a decade ago.
A drive through the industrial park reveals the scale of that ambition. Wide bitumen roads built to accommodate heavy trucks snake between neatly planned factory compounds. A dedicated 100MW power substation, industrial drainage network and reliable water supply support dozens of manufacturers operating around the clock.
Inside these factories, Uganda’s industrial future is taking shape.
Goodwill Uganda Ceramic Co. Ltd. produces between 30,000 and 40,000 square metres of ceramic tiles every day using locally sourced raw materials. Venus Industries Uganda assembles LED bulbs, fans, streetlights and household appliances destined for Ugandan homes and regional export markets.
Gocta Workwear Uganda Limited manufactures industrial protective clothing now exported to France, Romania, Greece and the Czech Republic, while Hau Hui International Group produces porcelain sanitary ware and ceramic products serving East African construction markets.
Yale International Investment adds value to Uganda’s agricultural produce by cleaning, drying and storing maize and other grains before they reach commercial buyers, creating a crucial link between farmers and modern markets.
Collectively, the factories manufacture more than 1,000 different products, supporting Uganda’s drive towards import substitution and regional exports.
But the real story of Kapeeka is found outside the factory gates.
Every day, nearly 36,000 workers arrive from Nakaseke, Luwero, Wakiso, Kiboga, Nakasongola and even Northern and Eastern Uganda, transforming what was once a sleepy rural settlement into a thriving commercial centre.
For many families, a factory job has become the first reliable source of monthly income.
The ripple effects are visible everywhere.
Land that sold for about Shs500,000 an acre a decade ago now commands between Shs20 million and Shs30 million. Single-room rentals, built to house factory workers, fetch at least Shs100,000 a month, creating new streams of income for local residents.
For people like Elias Muwanga, the LC I Chairperson of Namunkekera Village, the industrial park has changed not only the skyline but also the fortunes of ordinary families. New brick houses have replaced traditional mud-and-wattle homes, while shops, restaurants and transport businesses have flourished to meet the demands of a rapidly growing workforce.
Hospitality businesses now serve thousands of meals daily, boda boda riders enjoy a steady flow of customers, and local traders report business volumes that would have been unimaginable before the factories arrived.
Infrastructure has kept pace with this growth.
The nearing completion of the Matugga-Nakaseke tarmac highway has significantly reduced travel times to Kampala, improving access to markets and encouraging further investment. Better roads, increased policing and expanded public services have helped transform Namunkekera into one of central Uganda’s fastest-growing communities.
Yet perhaps Kapeeka’s greatest legacy is not the buildings or machinery—it is the skills being transferred to Ugandans.
When production first began, most sophisticated equipment was operated almost entirely by foreign technicians. Today, thousands of Ugandans who joined as unskilled labourers have become machine operators, technicians, supervisors and logistics managers through continuous on-the-job training.
“We enter without knowing much, start with the basics, and keep improving until we can perform the most complex tasks,” says factory worker Susan Akello.
Her story mirrors that of many young Ugandans whose futures have been transformed by industrial employment.
As Uganda pushes to expand manufacturing and reduce dependence on imported finished goods, Kapeeka Industrial Park has become more than an economic project. It has become proof that industrialisation can fundamentally change communities—not only by creating factories, but by creating opportunities.
For Namunkekera, the industrial revolution did not arrive with fanfare. It arrived one factory, one worker and one transformed livelihood at a time. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
