KIGALI - Inyange Industries yesterday laid off 80 employees in the first step of its restructuring exercise aimed at streamlining operations and consolidating its capacity to be more profitable and competitive.

Most of the affected workers are from the company’s production and sales departments, and according to the Managing Director, Rama Kant Pandey, the company has acquired new machines which have left many employees idle.

According to a statement issued by Pandey, the layoff is aimed at maximizing output from the company, given that the current turnover in production is not able to support the huge workforce.

"The management of Inyange invested in automated machines which left many employees idle and hence, productivity per employee very low and in the end, affecting overall profitability of the company,” the statement read

One of the victims of the Inyange layoff, who preferred to remain anonymous, expressed surprise of the layoff to Sunday Times and said that the workers had not been given ample time to prepare, but hoped that the company would consider rehiring some of them in the future.

"They called us in the office and handed each of us envelopes containing letters terminating our contracts. We were not even allowed to ask any question,” the victim said.

According to Pandey, Inyange will soon provide all the terminal benefits to the victims of the restructuring exercise and some of them still stand a chance of being recalled.

Currently with a staff of over 300 workers, Inyange will follow up the restructuring exercise with a series of other reforms aimed at strengthening its position in the market.

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