Business
Seemahale Telecoms: An African company building an African smartphone for Africa’s needs
Lehlokoe hopes a South African government policy that rewards companies for buying from black-owned firms will also work in his favor in his home market. And soon, he hopes to find partner firms to distribute his phones elsewhere in Africa.
According to the telecoms advisory firm IDC research, Africa received shipments of nearly 30 million phones in the second quarter of 2013, a fifth of which were in the smartphone segment.
Young African buyers are as brand-conscious as they are anywhere in the world, but analysts say companies such as Seemahale can still hope for a bite of the pie if they can price devices attractively.
“It has to be comparable to the mainstream devices,” said IDC analyst Spiwe Chireka. “Many will be saying: ‘Even if I don’t get an S4 – if I have a phone that looks like an S4, I’m still cool, it’s still acceptable’.”
Other companies are also hoping consumers will embrace handsets made or designed in Africa.
Mauritius-based Mi-Fone is selling basic phones for as little as US$12 in countries such as Kenya, Angola, Rwanda and Nigeria. In the Congo Republic, VMK is designing smartphones and tablets for Africa.
More: African company VMK officially launches first African-designed tablet and smartphone
Despite low wages, African countries have been gradually building manufacturing centers partly because of a lack of infrastructure and an excess of red tape.
