Rwanda's MARA Technology Group launched two smartphones on Monday, calling them the first two fully-made models in Africa to be made in Africa, giving a clear indication of the country's ambitions to become a regional technology hub.
The phones Mara X and Mara Z will use Google's Android operating system and cost 175,750 Rwandan francs ($ 190) and 120,250 Rwandan francs ($ 130), respectively.
The two phones will compete with Samsung, whose cheaper smartphone costs 50,000 francs ($ 54) and branded phones that are not known for 35,000 francs ($ 37).
Ashish Thakar, chief executive of Mara Group, said the company was targeting customers willing to pay more for quality.
"This is the first smartphone manufacturer in Africa," he told Reuters after a tour of the company alongside Rwandan President Paul Kagame.
"Companies are assembling smartphones in Egypt, Ethiopia, Algeria and South Africa, but they are importing components." We are actually the first to manufacture. We make motherboards and motherboards throughout the whole process.
The factory costs $ 24 million and could make 1,200 phones a day, Thacker said.
The Mara Group hopes to take advantage of the continent's FTA, which aims to form a trading bloc of 55 countries to boost sales across Africa, Thakar said.
The deal is due to start trading in July next year with the aim of uniting 1.3 billion people and creating an economic bloc worth $ 3.4 trillion. But they are still in the very early stages and no timetables have been agreed to eliminate tariffs.
President Kagame said he hoped the phone would increase the use of smartphones in Rwanda, which currently stands at around 15 percent.
"Rwandans are already using smartphones but we want to empower a lot. The introduction of Mara phones will make the ownership of smartphones more accessible to more Rwandans."