After years of decline and unsuccessful attempts to rise up again, the once vibrant cotton and textiles industry in Western Kenya region is set to receive a major push, thanks to a project being implemented by the Kisumu National Polytechnic which besides training textile professionals could create hundreds of direct and indirect jobs.
With the support of the World Bank-funded East Africa Skills for Transformation and Regional Integration Project (EASTRIP), the KNP has since 2019 been training the next generation of textiles professionals from across the country.
This coupled with a modern clothing factory at the institution could see the city regain its status as a major cotton hub it once was in the olden days of the famous Kisumu Cotton Mills (KICOMI).
Appointed as a Regional Flagship Technical Institute (RFTI) in textiles technology under EASTRIP, the institution has besides putting up the factory is installing some of the most modern machines in the country in what will see it not only train as students become fashion designers, but also help them become textile industry specialists.
“As a centre of excellence in textiles technology we will be also operating a production unit which is basically a factory in every sense doing everything from spinning, weaving, processing and then garment making,” said Thomas Nyang’or who is in charge of monitoring and evaluation at the centre.
It will have full time staff to run daily operations in a bid to fully commercialise the unit thanks to the Ksh 1.09 billion credit from the bank that has in part gone to building the factory, a modern administration block plus classrooms.
“We are already getting a few customised orders for corporate shirts and for branding uniforms which we are able to do with our students even before our production unit becomes fully operational,” he told KBC Digital.
While the ultimate aim is to train textile professionals, the unit he emphasises needs to be fully operational for purposes of sustaining itself.
With a career production manager in place Nyang’or is optimistic that the factory will be self-sustaining and the future bright, the only major challenge anticipated to be a shortage of raw cotton, blamed on near collapse of the sector.
New buildings blocks at Kisumu National polytechnic built with funding from the EASTRIP project to house a factory and other facilities for a regional centre for excellence in textiles technology. Photos credit- Kisumu National Polytechnic.On this, however, he’s confident that working with the county government of Kisumu and local farmers could see them grow the crop and provide a steady supply to sustain the enterprise.
Training conditions have improved and key training facilities provided boosted by the near 100% completion of construction and most of the equipment procured and installed.
According to Peter Mugo the factory manager now at the institution for the past year, besides the classrooms and the offices the unit also has a 52 rooms hostel facility, a kitchen and dining room, a lactarium-for breastfeeding mothers, a library, sewing and design studios.
Also included is a showroom while spinning machines were being installed, and knitting and weaving machines have been procured.
Also procured are 67 different ones including those for sewing, embroidery and knitting machines all valued at millions of shillings, he disclosed.
Despite having all the basic facilities, the factory lacks some critical things such as a fire detection system, a machine for refining and additional weaving machines. This is besides wet process machines valued at up to Ksh250 million for the entire value chain- critical for dyeing and finishing fabrics.
“At the moment, we have a functional tailoring unit that can produce yarn and fabric, but we need a number of additional things so that we have a complete factory that trains and gives students the needed industrial attachment,” he noted.
“We can now do things like embroidery, flat-knitting, sketching and printing, which is very commendable. However, we need to fully operate like a factor in order to be fully self-sustaining, he disclosed.
Back to Nyang’or, he reveals that the RFTI has so far enrolled 601 students including 424 in long term courses and 201 in short term programmes in some cases exceeding its baseline target, a key project indicator in ensuring increased access to TVET education.
On the other hand, overall student employment ratio graduate employment rate six months after graduation stood at 74% as at June 2025, against a baseline target of 50% and at 79% six months after graduation for female students.
At the same time the centre has developed and accredited 34 demand-driven programmes including 21 short-term ones and 13 long term ones, adds the administrator.
“As a requirement the RFTI has established an industry advisory boards are established constituting of 50% private sector representatives
Ahead of fully operationalising the textile factor the institution has signed 26 MoUs with industries and partner institutions including 16 with industries and 10 with training institutions over the same period, a more than 100% achievement.
These have been done with Keveye and Katito technical and vocation training centres(TVC) in Kisumu county, Lucy Ohono, Lignwa, and ReraTVCs in Siaya County, Homa Bay and Paul TVCs in Homa Bay County, explained Evans Onyango Strategic and Partnerships Focal person for the RFTI.
The lower cadre TVETs have been supported in streamlining their governance structures, he says, their managers trained in things including bookkeeping and better management.
We have also through short courses build their trainers’ capacity for repair, maintenance and operation of various machines and equipment. This is after the realisation that once the machines broke down they remained idle for a long time.
The KNP has through EASTRIP also sponsored students from the lower institutions for skills competition which Onyango says has helped the students with both exposure and visibility. This is besides ‘retooling’ them for competency based training.
The project has also sponsored nine teaching staff who have undergone industrial attachment, with another seven undertaking exchanges in a foreign country.
One such trainer is Isaiah Ong’ong’a, a trainer in the department of electrical engineering since 2021 who under EASTRIP benefited from a scholarship for a masters degree in his field at the Nanjin University of Aeronautics and Astronautics in China.
The engineer who went ahead to specialise in renewable energy travelled to China in 2023 after an initial hitch occasioned by Covid-19, already having finished coursework for the two and seven months while programme still in Kenya.
“I was the only foreigner in the programme for the period that I stayed. I learnt a lot about renewable energy and after graduating in July 2024, I have decided to become an advocate for clean energy, teaching people about solar power in and out of college,” he says.
According to the World Bank African TVET providers are struggling with widespread low funding, shortage of modern training facilities and equipment, lack of industry driven programmes with modern curricula and pedagogy, and trainers with low competency and low pay.
For the reason EASTRIP, a five-year initiative funded by the Bank and the governments of Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania, and whose implantation is overseen by the Inter-University Council for East Africa (IUCEA) was mooted.
Funded through with both credit and grants valued at US$ 293 million benefits 16 RFTIs, with Ethiopia receiving US$150 million, Kenya US$60 million, and Tanzania US$75 million with the IUCEA, the secretariat host getting US$8 million
Through the project, the three participating governments provide support and resources to create and implement policies that will allow TVET institutions to “re-engineer their learning platforms and modes of delivery in order to meet the dynamic and ever-changing skills requirements of the market places”, according to project documents.
It is designed to address skills shortage and mismatch, by providing technical, financial and industry partnership to improve the relevance and quality of training programmes in 16 selected RFTIs.
It supports the development of highly specialised TVET programs for training of technicians and TVET faculty, as well as industry recognized short-term training, targeting regional priority sectors in transport, energy, manufacturing, and ICT.
The project development objective is to increase access and improve the quality of TVET programs in selected Regional Flagship TVET Institutes (RFTIs) and to support regional integration in East Africa.
It is training technicians and teachers at certificate, diploma, and degree levels in regional priority sectors of transport, energy, agriculture, manufacturing and ICT.
