Rwanda Launches “Made in Africa” Smartphone

Workers produce clothes in one of Rwanda’s garment factories. Mara group opened a smartphone factory capable of producing every part of a smartphone. (Flickr)

Pan-African conglomerate Mara Group launched two new smartphones that it dubbed the first “Made in Africa” models on October 7. Both phones will run on Google’s Android platform. The Mara X will cost 175,750 Rwandan francs ($190 USD) and the Mara Z will cost 120,250 Rwandan francs ($130 USD). These smartphones are produced at a factory in Kigali’s special economic zone, an industrial center near the Rwandan capital with liberal economic regulations. According to Mara Group CEO Ashish Thakkar, the plant is capable of producing more than 10,000 new smartphones per day.

 While other countries such as Egypt, Algeria, and South Africa have established smartphone manufacturing plants, they import at least some of the components for their products. However, Mara manufactures everything in Rwanda. Mara Group also hopes to benefit from the recently implemented African Continental Free Trade Agreement which created a bloc of 55 African countries in order to lower trade barriers.

Mara’s phones will have to compete against cheaper international alternatives offered by companies like Samsung, which sell phones for as cheap as 50,000 Rwandan francs ($54 USD). The Mara Group hopes that despite the higher cost, customers will be willing to pay for a “Made in Africa” product. To help lighten the financial burden for consumers, Mara has partnered with local banks and telecommunications firms in order to provide customers with a two-year payment plan for their phones. The Mara Group hopes to eventually export the phones to other countries in the region. 

Phone and internet use have increased in Rwanda over the last few years, making the country an emerging market for smartphone companies. According to the Rwandan Ministry of Information, Technology, and Communication and Innovation, phone use among Rwandans is at 80.6 percent, up from 33 percent in 2010. Internet penetration is at 52.1 percent now, up from 7 percent in 2011. 

“The smartphone is no longer a luxury item. It is rapidly becoming a requirement of everyday life,” said Rwandan President Paul Kagame at the inaugural ceremony for the Mara Group’s manufacturing plant. “That trend is bound to increase in the years to come, as more and more services migrate to digital platforms.”

The opening of the smartphone factory in Kigali represents one part of a larger play by Rwanda to become a technology and science hub in Africa. In addition to hosting the World Economic Forum on Africa in 2018, it is working toward completing the Kigali Innovation City project, which is meant to facilitate Rwanda’s transition to a knowledge-based economy. 

“Today is a big dream come true not only for Mara but also for Rwanda and Africa,” said Ashish Thakkar. “This is a historic moment helping shift the narrative for the African continent in the true sense that Africans can also produce high-quality global standard products.”

The future of the Mara smartphone will depend on its ability to compete with cheaper alternatives and wider adoption of smartphones by the Rwandan population, but it nevertheless represents a major step in the development of Rwanda’s domestic tech industry.