Mara Phones has partnered with Nedbank to boost smartphone penetration in South Africa. The phone company are the producers of the first ‘made in Africa’ smartphone in Rwanda. This follows after it recently cited a factory in Durban.
The IDC is a proud funder of Mara Phones, a new business that recently opened its doors to manufacture low cost, high-quality mobile smartphones for the South African market witnessed by President Cyril Ramaphosa at Dube Trade Port, KwaZulu-Natal @MaraPhones #InvestSA #SAIC19 pic.twitter.com/UCa60wS6sK
— IDC South Africa (@IDCSouthAfrica) November 7, 2019
Mara Phones aims to produce affordable smartphones and increase smartphone penetration in South Africa. It started with its first manufacturing plant in Kigali before extending to South Africa. The partnership with Nedbank is to produce high-quality and affordable tech products made fully in Africa.
“We are exceptionally pleased that Nedbank has come on board to partner with Mara Phones, thereby enabling South Africans the opportunity to procure and acquire high-quality and affordable smartphones. This partnership strengthens our vision to change the narrative by demonstrating that Africans can produce high-quality tech products” says Ahuti Chug, the Chairman of Mara Phones.
See Also: Rwandan-based Mara Launches New Phone Factory in South Africa
According to Ciko Thomas, the Group Managing Executive for Nedbank Retail and Business Banking, Mara Phone’s drive aligns with their philosophy.
“Mara Phones is committed to leveraging technology to enable financial inclusion, enhanced education, healthcare and agriculture outcomes in South Africa and across Africa. Through this transaction, the ability of both organizations to deliver on this vision will be significantly enhanced,” he said.
Nedbank Money App will be pre-installed on all Mara Phones produced in South Africa. This will enable customers to easily access financial services from their Mara phones. Customers will have access to choose their preferred network for prepaid voice and data bundles.
The factory in Durban can produce millions of smartphones a year. The Mara X and Mara Z smartphones cost R2999 and R3999 respectively.
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