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Mara Launches In South Africa, Becomes The Country’s First Smartphone Factory

October 19, 2019

Mara Phones has officially opened the first smartphone manufacturing facility in South Africa, located in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal.

The manufacturing plant is the result of a R1.5-billion investment by Mara Phones that was supported by the government, and the opening on 17 October 2019 was attended by President Cyril Ramaphosa.

“The investment in South Africa by Mara Phones with the support of the Government of South Africa has already created almost 200 jobs, of which over 60% are women and over 90% are skilled, unemployed youth,” Mara Phones said.

“Mara Phones South Africa is expected to generate about 1,500 direct jobs over a period of 6 years and thousands of indirect jobs, which will contribute to the reduction in unemployment and enhance the transfer of high-tech knowledge in South Africa.”

Devices and plans

The Mara Phones factory is designed to assemble high-quality smartphones at affordable prices for South African consumers.

So far, the factory will be producing two devices — the Mara X and the Mara Z.

These devices are described as having long-lasting batteries, immense storage space, and Android One compatibility — which means they are guaranteed to receive Android updates for two years.

The pricing for these devices is detailed below:

Mara X — R2,999
Mara Z — R3,999

The Mara Z and Mara X feature similar designs and sizes, although the Mara Z is slightly larger and sports higher-end hardware.

Mara Phones also plans to launch physical experience stores across the country on its own and through franchises.

“Korea has Samsung, China has Huawei & Tecno, USA has Apple, and now Africa has Mara Phones!” said Mara Phones CEO Ashish J. Thakkar.

Mara Phone Factory, South Africa In Pictures

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world

South Africa Opens New Phone Manufacturing Plant

October 16, 2019

Rwanda has just set the pace. Mara is coming to South Africa this week, and the strategy is to penetrate the African market in a way that is both revolutionary and unprecedented. President Cyril Ramaphosa, as part of the recently launched District-Based Development Model, will later this week launch the Mara Phone Plant at Dube Trade Port in KwaZulu-Natal. Would Mara be the next Tencent of the continent? With exposure to over 80 million people in both South Africa and Rwanda so far, this will have to be the most powerful way to announce arrival.

Mara’s founder and Chief Executive Officer, Ashish Thakkar

Here Is All You Need To Know

During South Africa’s inaugural Africa Investment Forum in November last year, Mara’s founder and Chief Executive Officer, Ashish Thakkar, 38, announced that his phone company would invest R1.5 billion in a South African business venture over the next five years.
Almost 11 months later, the Rwanda-based Mara group has made good on its promise.
The modern state-of-the-art plant, with an annual production capacity of over 1.2 million handsets, is expected of manufacture two models of smartphones — the Mara X and Mara Z.
The phone company plans to launch upgraded versions annually.
The venture will generate hundreds of high-skilled direct jobs and thousands of indirect jobs. It will contribute to the transfer of technology and high-tech knowledge in South Africa.
On its Twitter account, Mara Phones said more than 60% of the staff at the plant are women while 90% of the workforce will be youth.
The production is expected to serve the domestic market as well as the regional market, especially the SADC region, contributing to strategies that position South Africa as the gateway to Africa.

Given the location of the operations, Mara Phones will be designated as a local product once production commences.
Promotion will be conducted through a mix of traditional and digital/online media while utilising local platforms to influence local markets.
The phones are expected to be listed on commerce sites such as Jumia, Konga, and Amazon.
The company also plans to sell the phones via retail partnerships with telecom operators Vodafone, MTN and Airtel.

Mara Will Be Looking At The Newly Signed AfCFTA As The Ultimate Statregy To Scale

Addressing reporters at the Investment Forum last year, Thakkar said his company had plans to develop the phone in plants across the continent’s five regions.

“We all know the importance of high quality and affordable smartphones and the impact this can have on the continent. Quality smartphones mean we can truly enable financial inclusion, micro-lending and micro-insurance. This can translate into better education, digital healthcare and agriculture efficiency and improve commerce.

“If this is all going to be possible… we [need] quality and affordable smartphones. Unfortunately, we have quality smartphones but they are not affordable and if it is affordable, it is not quality,” he said at the time.

Give it to Mara. With the coming into effect of AfCFTA, this move is a deal breaker. Low entry barrier, low tariffs, a smart appeal to a continent of over 1.2 billion people, Mara would definitely win a substantial market share, even though it may be selling at prices higher than other brands. With Mara’s phones produced locally on the continent, it is safe to say that other brands, especially China’s Tencent would have to reconsider their strategies. This may finally be the time for these brands to relocate to Africa, if they are to remain profitable in the long run. Recall that Rwanda is giving Mara tax relief for 7 years under the country’s extant laws.

Needless to say also that this launch of Mara Phone ’s first cellphone manufacturing plant in South Africa is a major boost to South Africa ‘s efforts to revive its sluggish economy and create the much-needed employment for its 56.40 percent unemployed youth population.