A few months after the start of the plant in Rwanda, it is South Africa’s turn to host a smartphone manufacturing unit of Mara Group. The infrastructure, located in the Dube TradePort Special Economic Zone in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal province, was inaugurated on October 17, 2019 by President Cyril Ramaphosa.
With an investment of nearly R 1.5 billion, the plant is expected to contribute to the creation of more than 1,500 direct jobs and thousands of indirect jobs when it reaches full capacity.
According to Ashish Thakkar, the founder of Mara Group, Durban “is the ideal location for Mara Phones in South Africa”. Indeed, the city is home to one of the largest shipping terminals on the continent. Operational all year, it enjoys a strategic position on international shipping routes. It is therefore a valuable asset for Mara Group’s export ambitions across the continent and to Europe.
At the Africa Investment Forum held in Johannesburg, South Africa, from 7 to 9 November 2018, Ashish Thakkar announced the opening of a mobile phone manufacturing plant in each of the five sub-regions. ‘Africa. Deployment in Southern and Eastern Africa is complete, leaving only Central, West and North Africa. It will still be necessary to determine the countries capable of accommodating Mara Group’s dreams of greatness.