H.E the President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame on Monday formally inaugurated a smartphone factory in Kigali. The factory is described as Africa’s “first high tech smartphone factory”. President Kagame hailed the launch as another breakthrough for development in Rwanda.
“The Mara Phone joins a growing list of high-quality products that are made in our country,” said Kagame.
The establishment of the manufacturing plant in the country was announced in February this year, by the Minister of ICT Rwanda; Ms. Paula Ingabire.
The company Mara Group — with headquarters in Dubai, says the factory will deliver high quality smartphones at an affordable price. The company will make Maraphones; Mara X and Mara Z priced at USD$130 and USD$190 respectively and will run on Google’s Android mobile operating system.
President Paul Kagame noted that the price is affordable.
Consumers can pay in installments over a period of 24 months if they can’t make the full payment.
Ingabire expects domestic production to increase smartphone penetration by at least 10%, which will improve access to services and drive financial inclusion in rural communities through mobile financial services.
Mara Corp. CEO and a Ugandan entrepreneur; Ashish Thakkar said the phones will address a widespread need and create opportunities.
“We realized a few years ago that to create positive social impact on our continent. We need to have high quality and affordable smartphones,” said Thakkar.
Thakkar pointed out the company’s commitment to supporting development in Rwanda. He noted that 90% of the 200 factory employees are Rwandans and 60% are women.
CNN reports that the number of employees is projected to rise from 200 to more than 500 by its fifth year of operation.
Mara Corp. wants to change that. Maraphones will be manufactured in Africa by Africans for Africans—built from plants setup in South Africa, and Rwanda.
Thakkar said this will show the potential and ability that Africa can produce high quality and affordable smartphones in Africa, by Africans, for Africans and for the rest of the world.
The company is set to compete with Transsion Holdings — manufacturers of Tecno, Infinix, and itel smartphones. Transsion Holdings has leveraged the African smartphone market giving a run to likes of Samsung, Huawei, and Apple the biggest manufacturers in the world.
