KIGALI, Rwanda
Rwanda’s Mara Group launched two smartphones on
Monday, describing them as the first “Made in Africa” models and giving a boost
to the country’s ambitions to become a regional technology hub.
The Mara
X and Mara Z will use Google’s Android operating system and cost 175,750
Rwandan francs ($190) and 120,250 Rwandan francs ($130) respectively.
They
will compete with Samsung, whose cheapest smartphone costs 50,000 Rwandan
francs ($54), and non-branded phones at 35,000 Rwandan francs ($37). Mara Group
CEO Ashish Thakkar said it was targeting customers willing to pay more for
quality.
“This
is the first smartphone manufacturer in Africa,” Thakkar told Reuters after
touring the company alongside Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame.
Companies
assemble smartphones in Egypt, Ethiopia, Algeria and South Africa, but import
the components, he said.
“We
are actually the first who are doing manufacturing. We are making the
motherboards, we are making the sub-boards during the entire process,” he said.
“There are over 1,000 pieces per phone.”
Thakkar
said the plant had cost $24 million and could make 1,200 phones per day.
Mara
Group hopes to profit from the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, a pact
aimed at forming a 55-nation trade bloc, to boost sales across Africa, Thakkar
said.
The
agreement is due to begin trading in July next year, aiming to unite 1.3
billion people and create a $3.4 trillion economic bloc. But it is still in the
very early stages and no timelines have been agreed for abolishing tariffs.
Kagame
said he hoped the phone would increase Rwanda’s smartphone usage, currently at
around 15%.
“Rwandans
are already using smartphones but we want to enable many more. The introduction
of Mara phones will put smartphones ownership within reach of more Rwandans,”
Kagame said.
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