Mara technology company, on Thursday, opened South Africa’s first smartphone manufacturing plant where it will produce its “Made in Africa” phones along with a facility in Rwanda.

Mara Founder, Ashish Thakkar, said at the inauguration of the smartphone manufacturing plant in the South African coastal city of Durban that, “today proves that we Africans do dare to dream, and also deliver on our dreams.”

The South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, acknowledged that his country was on the move toward greatness.

“The facility will not only assemble smartphone components, but also develop them,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Mara Group said that it would sell its Mara X and Mara Z smartphones across Africa for affordable prices.

However, annual production was expected to reach around 1.2 million devices, with Google’s Android as their operating system, according to NAN report.

South Africa’s smartphone market has so far been dominated by manufacturers from Asia and the U.S.

The Headquarter of Mara Group is located in Dubai with about 11,000 workers, and specialises in technology and financial services. (Vanguard)