· Africa’s first smartphone factory in Rwanda @investment of $50 mn
· The company has exported to 53 countries worldwide
Last year, Ashish Thakkar a businessman from Uganda in collaboration with the Rwandan government set up Africa’s first smartphone factory in Rwanda. The investment of $50 million was partly financed by the country’s largest commercial bank, Bank of Kigali.
The factory was opened in Kigali at the Special Economic Zone, Gasabo District.
The workforce consisting of 60% of women has been producing an average of about 10,000 (smartphones) per month according to Eddy Sebera, the company’s chief executive officer. The demand he added is growing gradually. As of last month, the company has exported to 53 countries worldwide with Germany being its largest market outside Africa. Sebera claimed that the company has already created a name.
According to Counterpoint Research, Samsung tops the global smartphone market, followed by Huawei and Apple in the third position. Chinese cheap smartphones like Xiaomi and Tecno also are among the top ten global smartphone players. Therefore, Mara Phone will have to deal with consumers who are still obsessed with international brands.
The firm’s biggest market currently is Africa accounting for 60 percent of its market share. Currently, the Mara phone models (X and Z) are priced at $190 and $200 respectively. Many Africans feel that the cost is on the higher side. The company plans to manufacture cheaper smartphones that could retail somewhere between $60 and $70.To boost the market share, it has also entered an asset financing agreement with Bank of Kigali to facilitate locals to easily acquire phones.
Mara Phone hopes that the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement, which seeks to enable Africa the largest free trade area, will boost its sales by cutting down the tariffs. Currently, the company pays around 40 percent of duties to sell its smartphones across the continent. Moreover, Mara Phones has been given special incentives by the Rwandan Government under its strategy of manufacturing and industrialization under the National Strategy for Transformation (NST1). The strategy seeks to promote industrialization and bring in a structural shift in the export base to high-value goods and services. The goal is also to promote the ‘Made in Rwanda’ brand working with the private sector to recapture at least $400 million of imports by 2024. However, the company is concerned about the impact of the epidemic of Coronavirus as it depends on China for some raw material inputs. The company is exploring other sources for raw materials like turkey, Korea and Singapore.
