Ashish Thakkar talks on Mara’s project of manufacturing first Rwandan smartphones

Mara Corporation is going to launch the locally-made smartphones in the Rwandan and global markets in the next two months.

According to Ashish Thakkar, the founder of Mara Group and Mara Foundation, the construction and setting up of the factory, at the Special Economic Zone in Gasabo District are in the final stages. The 37-year old entrepreneur was speaking at the inaugural Made-in-Africa Leadership Conference in Rwanda’s capital, Kigali. He was speaking during a session dubbed ‘From trading to legacy-building: Creating lasting products and companies in Africa’, as reported by The New Times.

“The Mara phones factory in Rwanda will employ at least 200 people from day one, 16 per cent of whom will be women. This is in line with the Sustainable Development Goals,” Ashish Thakkar said.

Once the Made-In-Rwanda smartphones are launched in the Rwandan and international markets, it is likely to enhance access to digital services and also deepen internet penetration in the country. The products will be launched in varied models, and retailed at varying prices between USD 100 and USD 200. According to Ashish Thakkar, some of the phones will be for the Rwandan market while others will be for foreign markets within Africa.

Thakkar’s company, which owns Banque Populaire du Rwanda (BPR), also has a smartphone factory in South Africa where it invested USD 100 million. The smartphones that will soon be manufactured in Rwanda, he said, are ‘affordable and of high quality.’

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