Rwanda Opens Phone Factory

Rwandan President, Paul Kagame, on Monday 7th October presided over the launch of a phone manufacturing plant, in Kigali. He says this will improve access to digital services. Maraphone Source : Mara Group The factory, the first of its kind in Africa, assembles smartphones in Rwanda and is operated by the Mara Group. The smartphone, dubbed the ‘Maraphone’, is the first high specification, smartphone manufactured in Africa. According to the Mara Group, the phone will produce high quality and affordable smartphones to primarily serve the population of Africa and also with the aim to export to other continents such as Europe.  The first “Made-in-Rwanda” smartphones rolled off the assembly line last week. Kagame hails the plant as another milestone in Rwanda’s journey to becoming a high-tech “made-in-Rwanda” industry.

The African Development Bank (estimates that the value of Africa’s mobile money industry is projected to reach $14 billion by 2020