Mara Corporation joins hand with Rwanda govt to set up country’s first smartphone factory

Rwanda, the land of a thousand hills seeks to construct the first smartphone producing factory. A factory to manufacture smartphones in the country will further enhance access to digital services.

Rwanda-based technology company Mara Corporation revealed in October last year that the company was investing USD 100 million in South Africa to manufacture affordable and high-tech smartphones. The founder of Mara Corporation, Ashish Thakkar said that the African continent currently had over 400 million smartphones in use, and this would expand to over one billion in the next few years.

Following that Mara Corporation's expansion plan in South Africa, the company is now in absolute plan to join hand with the government of Rwanda to set up a smartphone manufacturing plant. According to the Minister for ICT and Innovation, Paul Ingabire, negotiations with Mara Corporation (of Ashish Thakkar-founded Mara Group) are going on to establish the plant by April 2019. However, she didn't reveal much details about it.

"To ensure smartphones become affordable, different strategies are needed to ensure each household has a smart device and digital literacy. We hope that the plant to locally produce smartphones will boost access," Ingabire said, The New Times noted.

Once the factory starts producing smartphones, people will be paying in instalments over a period of 24 months. "We also have to work with telecommunication companies to seek ways of reducing prices on internet use, which will boost ICT penetration and digital services," she added.