The most diversified and integrated steel plant in Africa — Capacity 1.8 MTPA. ISO 9001:2015 certified.
Scroll and the concrete fades. What is left standing is the steel Tembo makes. Pick a product to find it in the frame.
An illustration of where each product goes, not a structural design. Bar sizes are drawn larger than life so they can be seen.
Tembo TMX® B500 CWR — the flagship, from virgin iron ore.
Drawn coil, annealed wire, straight wire, invariable wire, nails, wire mesh, BRC, umbrella nails, welding rod, ribbed wire and galvanised wire — 100% value-added in Uganda.
Hollow sections and square tubes through liquid steel.
Angles, flats, C channels and profiles from the section mills.
“We admire elephants in part because they demonstrate what we consider the finest human traits: empathy, self-awareness, and social intelligence.”— Graydon Carter
It is with great pleasure and a deep sense of accomplishment that I, the chairman and founder, share with you the remarkable journey of Tembo Steels (U) Ltd.
Our story began with a vision to create something truly extraordinary: a steel manufacturing powerhouse that would not only set new standards of excellence but also contribute to the economic development of Uganda and the African continent at large.
Our team’s dedication has led to numerous milestones, from being the first company in the world to produce low-carbon steel from Cast Iron for Africa. It is also the first company in the world to produce 0.7mm hot rolled sheets (HRC) from continuous configuration through direct rolling.
Both end in a steel bar. Only one of them starts from rock. Watch a tonne travel each route and see where the second one joins.
Swipe sideways to follow both routes.
Sit on the charge and travel the whole route in 3D: down the kiln, into the furnace, along the caster and through the mill. Then tap a furnace, open up the works and build a city out of one bar.
Two identical frames on one table. The left one is tied with ordinary bar, the right one with Tembo TMX® B500 CWR. Concrete cannot bend — steel can. Pick a magnitude and hold the table down: the ordinary bar snaps at the joints and the floors pancake, while a ductile bar stretches, eats the energy and walks the frame back to plumb.
Ultra-premium TMT rebar made with pure steel through virgin iron ore. Launched September 2023 and registered as a trademark, TMX is Uganda's homegrown flagship — 100% value addition in the country.
Pick any claim to test it yourself.
Everything else on the schedule has its own page, with each line running.
Drawn coil, annealed wire, straight wire, invariable wire, nails, wire mesh, BRC, umbrella nails, welding rod, ribbed wire and galvanised wire — 100% value-added in Uganda.
See the wire rod lineCoil, round tubes, square tubes and rectangle tubes through liquid steel.
See the strip lineAngles, flats, C channels and profiles from the section mill.
See the section millTwo tests, one bar. First the press: B500 means no yield below 500 megapascals — hold the rig, watch the number climb past 500, let go and it springs straight back. Then the fold: bend it a full 180° around a mandrel and straighten it again. No cracks, either way.
The bar beside you made it — ore to steel. Tell us the project, and we'll spec the steel, the sizes and the delivery.
Plot No. 13 B, Mabua Road, Kololo (Opp. Interpol)
P.O. Box 26373, Kampala, Uganda
Plot No. 67, Block 24 Kigulu, Kasolo Subcounty
Bulamazi, Iganga, Uganda
| Heat / cast no. | TMX-260908-A |
| Grade | B500 CWR — UNBS permitted |
| Carbon (C) | 0.20 % |
| Manganese (Mn) | 0.82 % |
| Silicon (Si) | 0.21 % |
| Sulphur (S) | 0.028 % |
| Phosphorus (P) | 0.031 % |
| Carbon equivalent (CEV) | 0.39 |
| Yield strength Re | 545 MPa |
| Tensile strength Rm | 632 MPa |
| Rm/Re | 1.16 |
| Elongation A5 | 16.4 % |
| Bend / re-bend | PASS |
Every product from the works in one place. Pick one to see what it is used for and the sizes it comes in.
How much each size of Tembo TMX weighs, and how many 12 m bars make a tonne. Use it to check a delivery or to turn a tonnage into pieces.
| Size | kg per metre | kg per 12 m bar | Bars per tonne |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6mm | 0.222 | 2.7 | 375 |
| 8mm | 0.395 | 4.7 | 211 |
| 10mm | 0.617 | 7.4 | 135 |
| 12mm | 0.888 | 10.7 | 94 |
| 16mm | 1.579 | 18.9 | 53 |
| 20mm | 2.466 | 29.6 | 34 |
| 25mm | 3.854 | 46.2 | 22 |
| 32mm | 6.313 | 75.8 | 13 |
| 40mm | 9.864 | 118.4 | 8 |
Nominal figures for 12 m bars of round section. The actual mass of each bar is within the tolerance of the standard. Ask the sales team for the exact bundle weights.
An illustration of the wire rod line, drawn live in the browser. Temperatures are typical for the process, not live plant readings.
Since 2014, Tembo has been the first in East Africa to complete the entire wire-products value chain through liquid steel — zero imported wire rod, 100% value addition. The 10-stand block mill, East Africa’s first, rolls rod down to 5.5 mm.
Mesh grades G8, G10, G12, A66, A98 and A142 in standard and custom sheet sizes — full mesh schedule available from the sales team.
| Wire dia (mm) | Roll weight |
|---|---|
| 1.8 | 25 kg |
| 2.0 | 25 kg |
| 3.0 | 25 kg |
| Size (in) | Length (cm) | Wire dia (mm) |
|---|---|---|
| 6.0 | 15.0 | 6.00 |
| 5.0 | 12.5 | 5.50 |
| 4.0 | 10.0 | 5.00 |
| 3.0 | 7.5 | 4.00 |
| 2.5 | 6.5 | 3.40 |
| 2.0 | 5.0 | 3.00 |
| 1.5 | 4.0 | 2.65 |
| 1.0 | 2.5 | 2.00 |
East Africa’s first hot-rolled strip was commissioned by Tembo in 2006, and today the HRC mill adds hot-rolled coil to the portfolio.
Thickness, width and coil weight ranges are available from the sales team.
Round, square and rectangle tubes — Tembo completed the entire hollow-sections value chain through liquid steel in 2017, a first for Africa. Cold rolled and profiled products run at the Iganga works.
From strip to hollow section: formed round, welded along the seam, sized square. An illustration of the process.
Pick a profile and the passes re-cut. An illustration of pass-by-pass shaping; the real roll pass designs differ for every size.
First in Uganda to manufacture light sections through a structural mill from liquid steel (2004), now rolled on a fully continuous 18-stand horizontal-vertical section mill with direct rolling (2018). Standard length 5.8 m.
Complete size–thickness–weight tables for every profile are available from the sales team.
Tick the products you need and add how many. Then send the list to your fundi to check, or to Tembo for a price, on WhatsApp.
TMX weight: about tonnes
Send to my fundi opens WhatsApp so you can pick who to send it to. The weight is a nominal estimate.
Which size and grade, laps and bends, welding, storage on site, or what a test report means. Our engineers and quality team answer on WhatsApp.
The questions builders, dealers and buyers ask most. Can’t find yours? The assistant answers in seven languages.
Order straight from Tembo. Send the product, the sizes, the quantity and your town to our sales team on WhatsApp (+256 730 724 513), or call sales on +256 703 600 194 or +256 703 600 318. They reply with the price and the delivery options, and you can also collect from the works.
Tembo TMX® B500 CWR rebars come in 6, 8, 10, 12, 16, 20, 25, 32 and 40 mm. Wire rod is 5 to 12 mm, and the section mill rolls angles up to 63 × 63 mm, flat bars and channels.
Look for the Tembo TMX logo embossed along the bar, and for the QR-coded tag on the bundle, which links to that batch’s certificate. Buy from Tembo or from a dealer our sales team confirms. If someone contacts you in Tembo’s name, check their number on this website first.
B500 means the bar does not yield below 500 megapascals of stress. Tembo TMX is also bent a full 180° and straightened again without cracking.
Yes. UNBS test reports for TMX 8 to 32 mm and batch certificates are sent on request on WhatsApp. Tembo is ISO 9001:2015 certified, and its laboratory is accredited to ISO/IEC 17025.
A 12 mm bar weighs about 0.888 kg per metre, so a 12 m bar is about 10.7 kg and one tonne is about 94 bars. The table for every size is on the products page. Ask me about any size, for example “how many 16 mm bars in 2 tonnes”.
Yes. Tell the sales team the product, the sizes, the quantity and the town or district, and they reply with the delivery options and the price. You can also collect from the works.
Yes. Tembo takes export enquiries from Rwanda, DR Congo, Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi and beyond. Send the product, the sizes, the tonnage and where it is going, and the sales team replies with a quote and the delivery options.
Yes. Tembo makes steel from iron ore at its two integrated works in Lugazi and Iganga: rotary kilns, electric induction furnaces, continuous casting and rolling mills, all in Uganda.
Yes. Schools, universities, engineers and customers can book a guided visit to the Lugazi or Iganga works on the community page. Helmets, safety boots and the safety rules are given to every visitor at the works.
Use the application form on the careers page, or email hr@tembosteels.co.ug. Job offers come only from that address, and Tembo never asks for fees.
Fill in the dealer form on the careers page with your business, your town and the products you want to stock. The sales team reviews every application and contacts you.
Register on the Sell to Tembo form on the careers page. The works buys iron ore, coal, dolomite, scrap, alloys, spares, transport and services.
Send a quality report from the products page with the product, the size, the batch number on the tag and photos. It reaches our quality team.
Type their phone number, email or website into “Is this really Tembo?” at the bottom of any page, or type it here. It checks our official contacts and our staff numbers. Tembo never asks for fees.
Prices move with the market, so the sales team quotes them on the day. Send the sizes and the quantity on WhatsApp and they reply with the price.
Something wrong with a Tembo product? Send the details and they reach our team marked as a quality report. The batch number is on the tag of every bundle.
Add photos of the product and of its tag in WhatsApp or email before you send.
Buying Tembo steel from outside Uganda? Tell us the product, the sizes, the tonnage and where it is going, and the sales team will reply with a quote and the delivery options.
Pick your country:
Plot No. 13 B, Mabua Road, Kololo (Opp. Interpol)
P.O. Box 26373, Kampala, Uganda
Plot No. 67, Block 24 Kigulu, Kasolo Subcounty
Bulamazi, Iganga, Uganda
Voted for by the public, judged by quality bodies and industry panels — from the first People’s Choice win in 2018 to Platinum in August 2026.
Eight years in a row, 2018 to 2025. Voted for by the public.
Exhibitions, forums and visits. Select any photo to see it full size.
From Tembo’s own photo library. Select any photo to see it full size.
Launches, awards and milestones, on Tembo’s YouTube channel.
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1:18What Uganda’s newsrooms have written about Tembo. Each story opens on the publisher’s site.
A full-page feature on Africa’s most diversified and integrated steel plant, covering all four verticals of steel: green steelmaking, the only company in Africa making HRC, structural steel, wire rod and TMT from iron ore, ultra-thin hot rolled sheet through direct rolling, and low-carbon steel from cast iron.
Umar Nsubuga interviews the chairman on arriving in Uganda in 2000, choosing Lugazi, and growing a steel maker built on local ore into the country’s largest integrated steel company, with around 3,000 people employed directly.
Tembo is named East Africa’s best manufacturer of steel and rolling products, with Gold for its TMX rebars, at the ceremony at Kampala’s Golf Course Hotel.
Tembo is among the companies honoured at the 2025 awards evening, recognised for its TMX bars.
A profile of the two-plant company that runs every phase of steelmaking in Uganda, from iron ore through to finished products.
A plant fabricated by Ugandan engineers. The President credits Tembo with reducing Africa’s reliance on imported steel and ties its output to Uganda’s railway plans.
The official account of the day: the President commends the chairman and praises locally integrated industry for keeping value inside the country.
Coverage of the regional quality awards hosted by UNBS, where Tembo shares the top honours and is noted for its quality excellence award as East Africa’s best steel and rolling manufacturer.
The exhibitor profile: virgin iron ore from Kabale, the region’s only 5.5 mm wire rod facility, and its pioneering use of cast iron as a steelmaking input.
Where Tembo has been lately.
Plot No. 13 B, Mabua Road, Kololo (Opp. Interpol)
P.O. Box 26373, Kampala, Uganda
Plot No. 67, Block 24 Kigulu, Kasolo Subcounty
Bulamazi, Iganga, Uganda
This page draws its scenes in 3D and this browser has 3D graphics switched off. Everything else on the site still works.
The furnace holds a full heat of liquid steel. Tilt it with your finger and tap the steel into the ladle. Pour too gently and it runs down the spout. Pour too hard and you overshoot. Fill the ladle, then send it to the caster.
This scene needs 3D graphics, which this browser has switched off.
An integrated steelworks on a table top, running. The kilns turn, the cranes travel and the trucks leave. Drag to turn the table. Pick a building to lift its roof and look inside.
This scene needs 3D graphics, which this browser has switched off.
This scene needs 3D graphics, which this browser has switched off.
Homes, bridges and stadiums all stand on the same thing. Tell us what you are building.
Plot No. 13 B, Mabua Road, Kololo (Opp. Interpol)
P.O. Box 26373, Kampala, Uganda
Plot No. 67, Block 24 Kigulu, Kasolo Subcounty
Bulamazi, Iganga, Uganda
Tembo makes steel from iron ore, start to finish, at two works in Uganda. That takes kiln operators and crane operators, chemists and electricians, engineers and accountants. If you want a trade that builds the country, start here.
Job offers come only from hr@tembosteels.co.ug. Tembo never asks for fees.
How to spot a fake offerSteel is made in a line, from ore to truck, and every stage has a team. Pick a stage to see the work and the kinds of roles in it.
These are the kinds of roles each team has. They are not a list of current vacancies.
Steelmaking is learned next to the people who do it. If you are a student, an artisan or a graduate, here is how to ask for a place.
For university and technical institute students who need a placement as part of their course.
For fitters, welders, electricians, machine operators and others building a trade.
For engineers, metallurgists, chemists and business graduates who are starting out.
Places depend on what each works can take at the time. HR replies from hr@tembosteels.co.ug only.
Fill this in and your email app opens with a message to HR, ready to send. Attach your CV before you send it.
Prefer to write it yourself? Email hr@tembosteels.co.ug.
Fraudsters sometimes use the names of well-known employers. Three checks keep you safe.
Real offers come only from hr@tembosteels.co.ug. An offer from any other address is not from Tembo.
Tembo never asks for fees. Not for forms, not for interviews, not for medical checks, uniforms or training.
Not sure about a message? Forward it to hr@tembosteels.co.ug before you pay anything or travel anywhere.
Two integrated works run on ore, coal, dolomite, power, spares and transport every day. If you supply any of them, register here and your details go straight to the team.
Lump ore for the rotary kilns that make sponge iron.
Coal for the kilns, by the truckload.
Part of the kiln charge, with the ore and coal.
Melting stock for the furnaces, recycled back into new steel.
Ferro-alloys for the melt, and linings for furnaces and ladles.
Mill rolls, bearings, motors, drives and electrical spares.
Trucks for ore and coal coming in, and finished steel going out.
Engineering, fabrication, maintenance and site services.
Hardware shops, wholesalers and distributors in Uganda and the region can apply to stock Tembo products. Tell us about your business, and the sales team will contact you.
Plot No. 13 B, Mabua Road, Kololo (Opp. Interpol)
P.O. Box 26373, Kampala, Uganda
Plot No. 67, Block 24 Kigulu, Kasolo Subcounty
Bulamazi, Iganga, Uganda
A steelworks is more than its product. Here is what Tembo has put back, in the words of the people who recorded it.
Tembo received an Appreciation Award from Hon. Diana Mutasingwa N. Kagyenyi, Minister of State in the Office of the Vice President, for donating hospital beds and creating local jobs.
Tembo employs 3,000 people directly across its head office and its two works.
The second plant, at Iganga, was fabricated by Ugandan engineers. President Museveni commissioned it in January 2025.
At the Iganga commissioning the President praised locally integrated industry for keeping value inside the country, and credited Tembo with reducing Africa’s reliance on imported steel.
Tembo exhibits on the Buy Uganda Build Uganda platform and won the BUBU Expo Award in 2022. Its BUBU profile starts where the steel does, with virgin iron ore from Kabale.
Tembo was the main sponsor of India Day in Kampala in August 2024, hosted with the Indian Association of Uganda.
People’s Choice Quality Awards: eight years in a row, 2018 to 2025.
Schools, universities, engineers and customers can ask for a guided visit to the Lugazi or Iganga works. Tell us who is coming and when, and the team will confirm a date.
Safety gear is on us. Helmets, safety boots and the safety rules are given to every visitor when you arrive at the works.
If you run a school, a health centre or a community group around Lugazi or Iganga, tell us what you are working on.
A local business that could supply the works? Register on Sell to Tembo.
Plot No. 13 B, Mabua Road, Kololo (Opp. Interpol)
P.O. Box 26373, Kampala, Uganda
Plot No. 67, Block 24 Kigulu, Kasolo Subcounty
Bulamazi, Iganga, Uganda
What this website collects, what happens to what you send us, and the rights you have under Uganda’s Data Protection and Privacy Act, 2019.
This website belongs to Tembo Steels (U) Limited, Plot No. 13 B, Mabua Road, Kololo, P.O. Box 26373, Kampala, Uganda. For anything about your personal data, write to info@tembosteels.co.ug.
When you email us or message us on WhatsApp, your message reaches our sales, human resources or procurement team. We use it only to answer you, to handle your order or quote, or to consider your job application or supplier registration.
We keep it only as long as we need it for that purpose, or as long as the law requires. We do not sell your details to anyone.
Under the Data Protection and Privacy Act, 2019, you can ask to see the personal data we hold about you, ask us to correct it or delete it, and object to the way we use it. Write to info@tembosteels.co.ug and we will reply.
If you are not satisfied, you can complain to the Personal Data Protection Office at pdpo.go.ug.
LAST UPDATED 16 OCTOBER 2026
Plot No. 13 B, Mabua Road, Kololo (Opp. Interpol)
P.O. Box 26373, Kampala, Uganda
Plot No. 67, Block 24 Kigulu, Kasolo Subcounty
Bulamazi, Iganga, Uganda
LATEST FROM OUR PAGES
The newest posts from Tembo’s Facebook and Instagram. They load only when you tap, so nothing is sent to Facebook or Instagram before that.
Launches, awards, site visits and community news, as they are posted.
Photos from the works, the products and the people behind them.