South Africa’s First Smartphone Manufacturing Factory Is Set To Be Auctioned
South Africa’s First Smartphone Manufacturing Factory Is Set To Be Auctioned. In 2019 President Cyril Ramaphosa witnessed the opening of the manufacturing factory and now it is set to be sold off. The manufacturing plant produced cell phones such as the Mara X and Mara Z smartphones which are ‘affordable with a long-lasting battery, immense storage and a two-year Android version update delivered through a partnership with Google and its Android One programme.
Mara Phones is a dynamic African group with operations in technology, banking, real estate and infrastructure. Established in 1996, Mara has been active on the continent for 23 years. It has grown from a small computer hardware trading firm in East Africa to a multi-sector group with investments and operations in 25 countries across the African continent.
Its sale was mandated by Standard Bank and the Industrial Development Corporation (which supplied trade finance and project finance respectively), Keith Green, Park Village Auctions’ Durban auctioneer told Business Insider. Mara was founded by Ashish J. Thakkar, in 1996, and is now active in 24 countries and employs more than 11,000 people. It is headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Mara Phones part of the Mara Corporation launched smartphone factories on the African Continent on October 2019. Kigali, Rwanda was the inaugural location for the Mara Phones manufacturing facility and Durban, South Africa opened shortly after. With the closure of the factory a lot of people are going to lose their jobs. This is something that will have negative effects on the workers as they will be unemployed.
The sale includes the manufacturing and assembly plant, equipment, and components for smartphones, plus already completed phones in storage. It has also been reported that, two financial institutions have taken over the factory and are set to sell it off.
