Rwanda Presents The First Smartphones ‘Made In Africa’. The Mara Group in Rwanda began implementing two smartphones on Monday.
The Mara Group in Rwanda began implementing two smartphones on Monday. The group says called these smartphones the first models the first ones ‘Made In Africa’, it also increased the nation’s ambitions of becoming a regional technology centre. The two models, the Mara X and Mara Z, will be using the Android operating system.
The Mara X will cost an estimate of R2900 and the Mara Z will cost an estimate of R2000. The cell phones will be in competition with Samsung, which the cheapest smartphone costs an estimate of R825 and other non-branded smartphones. The CEO of the Mara Group, Ashish Thakkar, stated that it was aiming for consumers that are willing to take out a bit more for quality. The CEO told Reuters that “This is the first smartphone manufacturer in Africa.”
The news organisation was touring the smartphone organisation alongside the President of Rwanda, President Paul Kagame. He stated that cell phone organisations assemble smartphones in South Africa, Ethiopia, Egypt and Algeri, however the parts are imported. He says the organisation is the first one that is manufacturing. “We are actually the first who are doing manufacturing. We are making the motherboards, we are making the sub-boards during the entire process. There are over 1000 pieces per phone,” says Ashish Thakkar. The CEO says the plant could create 1200 phones each day. The President of Rwanda says he hoped that the smartphones would raise the use of smartphones in Rwanda by 15%.
by Alexandra Ramaite
