{"id":3437,"date":"2021-10-28T16:17:08","date_gmt":"2021-10-28T16:17:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/experts-urge-collaboration-to-unlock-africas-rising-smartphone-market"},"modified":"2021-10-28T16:22:53","modified_gmt":"2021-10-28T16:22:53","slug":"experts-urge-collaboration-to-unlock-africas-rising-smartphone-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/experts-urge-collaboration-to-unlock-africas-rising-smartphone-market","title":{"rendered":"Experts urge collaboration to unlock Africa\u2019s rising smartphone market"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Rwanda. <\/strong><\/span>Cooperation will be key if countries in the Eastern Africa sub-region are to tap opportunities created by the rising demand for smartphones, experts meeting in Kigali noted on Thursday.<\/p>\n

The discussions at the 25th Meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee of Senior Officials and Experts (ICSOE) revolved around the road to social and economic recovery in the region.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe focus should be in identifying what we could offer to each other in the entire value chain to make us all win from the relationship\u2026we must have a win-win partnership,\u201d Eddy Sebera, Managing Director of MaraPhones Rwanda, told The New Times.<\/p>\n

Andrea Vissol, an industrial policy analyst, added: \u201cI think cooperation is at the heart of any success story and not just in the African context but in the global context. I believe it is essential that all countries speak to each other, work with each other, to tap all the opportunities that lie ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

During a panel discussion on deepening regional value chains in Eastern Africa: the case of the smartphone value chain, Vissol noted that Africa\u2019s cellphone production is driven by the African market.<\/p>\n

Africa\u2019s top three smartphone producers, he noted, represent 93.6 per cent of the continent\u2019s total exports and 80 per cent of their international sales are made on the African market.<\/p>\n

$15 billion of untapped demand in Africa<\/b><\/p>\n

Africa\u2019s cellphone market is dominated by Morocco, South Africa and Ethiopia. \u201cWith production capacities all along the value chain there are opportunities for developing an integrated cellphone value chain in Africa,\u201d Vissol told the meeting.<\/p>\n

A product\u2019s value chain involves the various steps of production which provide an extra brut margin or value addition and that lead up to the actual commercialisation of the final consumer good.<\/p>\n

Vissol noted that there is $15 billion of untapped demand in Africa for the continent\u2019s lowest national importers to reach the international consumption levels of Africa\u2019s top five importers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe continental demand for smartphones remains largely untapped, 27 per cent of the continental imports are made by 50 countries. The remaining imports, 73 per cent, are made by South Africa, Morocco, Egypt, Togo and Tunisia.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paula Ingabire, the Minister of ICT and Innovation, made a case for four critical areas she believes need to be focused on: research and development as well as design; development and engineering; manufacturing capability; and access to raw materials.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is just so much opportunity,\u201d she said, adding: \u201cThe most important policy we are trying to put up, in Rwanda, is affordability.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr. Jimson Olufuye, Founder and former Chair, Chief Executive Officer, AFICTA, noted that the continent has the potential but it needs to encourage its private sector to cooperate.<\/p>\n

The Africa Information and Communication Technologies Alliance (AfICTA), is a private sector led alliance of ICT associations, multinational corporations, and organisations.<\/p>\n

\u201cPolicy drives everything. But we have to cooperate. We need to make sure that we have a collaboration desk in all our countries,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cResearch and Development is also critical to be able to sustain the process because the change in technology is so rapid.\u201d<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Rwanda<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Rwanda. Cooperation will be key if countries in the Eastern Africa sub-region are to tap opportunities created by the rising demand for smartphones, experts meeting in Kigali noted on Thursday. The discussions at the 25th Meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee of Senior Officials and Experts (ICSOE) revolved around the road to social and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":3436,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,15,761,28],"tags":[760,763,2220,758,2219],"class_list":["post-3437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","category-files","category-homepage-english","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-rwanda","tag-collaboration","tag-rwanda","tag-smartphone-market"],"yoast_head":"\nExperts urge collaboration to unlock Africa\u2019s rising smartphone market - Rwanda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Cooperation will be key if countries in the Eastern Africa sub-region are to tap opportunities created by the rising dem ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/experts-urge-collaboration-to-unlock-africas-rising-smartphone-market\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Experts urge collaboration to unlock Africa\u2019s rising smartphone market\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Cooperation will be key if countries in the Eastern Africa sub-region are to tap opportunities created by the rising dem ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/experts-urge-collaboration-to-unlock-africas-rising-smartphone-market\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rwanda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-10-28T16:17:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-10-28T16:22:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2021\/10\/img-617ace4568e88.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"847\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"491\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/experts-urge-collaboration-to-unlock-africas-rising-smartphone-market#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/experts-urge-collaboration-to-unlock-africas-rising-smartphone-market\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Experts urge collaboration to unlock Africa\u2019s rising smartphone market\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-10-28T16:17:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-10-28T16:22:53+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/experts-urge-collaboration-to-unlock-africas-rising-smartphone-market\"},\"wordCount\":533,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/experts-urge-collaboration-to-unlock-africas-rising-smartphone-market#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2021\/10\/img-617ace4568e88.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Rwanda\",\"collaboration\",\"Rwanda\",\"smartphone market\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Economy\",\"files\",\"homepage-english\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/experts-urge-collaboration-to-unlock-africas-rising-smartphone-market#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/experts-urge-collaboration-to-unlock-africas-rising-smartphone-market\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/experts-urge-collaboration-to-unlock-africas-rising-smartphone-market\",\"name\":\"Experts urge collaboration to unlock Africa\u2019s rising smartphone market - Rwanda\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/experts-urge-collaboration-to-unlock-africas-rising-smartphone-market#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/experts-urge-collaboration-to-unlock-africas-rising-smartphone-market#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2021\/10\/img-617ace4568e88.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-10-28T16:17:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-10-28T16:22:53+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"Cooperation will be key if countries in the Eastern Africa sub-region are to tap opportunities created by the rising dem ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/experts-urge-collaboration-to-unlock-africas-rising-smartphone-market#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/experts-urge-collaboration-to-unlock-africas-rising-smartphone-market\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/experts-urge-collaboration-to-unlock-africas-rising-smartphone-market#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2021\/10\/img-617ace4568e88.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2021\/10\/img-617ace4568e88.jpg\",\"width\":847,\"height\":491,\"caption\":\"Experts urge collaboration to unlock Africa\u2019s rising smartphone market\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/experts-urge-collaboration-to-unlock-africas-rising-smartphone-market#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Experts urge collaboration to unlock Africa\u2019s rising smartphone market\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/\",\"name\":\"Rwanda\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Experts urge collaboration to unlock Africa\u2019s rising smartphone market - Rwanda","description":"Cooperation will be key if countries in the Eastern Africa sub-region are to tap opportunities created by the rising dem ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/experts-urge-collaboration-to-unlock-africas-rising-smartphone-market","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Experts urge collaboration to unlock Africa\u2019s rising smartphone market","og_description":"Cooperation will be key if countries in the Eastern Africa sub-region are to tap opportunities created by the rising dem ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/experts-urge-collaboration-to-unlock-africas-rising-smartphone-market","og_site_name":"Rwanda","article_published_time":"2021-10-28T16:17:08+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-10-28T16:22:53+00:00","og_image":[{"width":847,"height":491,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2021\/10\/img-617ace4568e88.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/experts-urge-collaboration-to-unlock-africas-rising-smartphone-market#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/experts-urge-collaboration-to-unlock-africas-rising-smartphone-market"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Experts urge collaboration to unlock Africa\u2019s rising smartphone market","datePublished":"2021-10-28T16:17:08+00:00","dateModified":"2021-10-28T16:22:53+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/experts-urge-collaboration-to-unlock-africas-rising-smartphone-market"},"wordCount":533,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/experts-urge-collaboration-to-unlock-africas-rising-smartphone-market#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2021\/10\/img-617ace4568e88.jpg","keywords":["Africa Press","Africa Press-Rwanda","collaboration","Rwanda","smartphone market"],"articleSection":["all news","Economy","files","homepage-english"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/experts-urge-collaboration-to-unlock-africas-rising-smartphone-market#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/experts-urge-collaboration-to-unlock-africas-rising-smartphone-market","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/experts-urge-collaboration-to-unlock-africas-rising-smartphone-market","name":"Experts urge collaboration to unlock Africa\u2019s rising smartphone market - Rwanda","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/experts-urge-collaboration-to-unlock-africas-rising-smartphone-market#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/experts-urge-collaboration-to-unlock-africas-rising-smartphone-market#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2021\/10\/img-617ace4568e88.jpg","datePublished":"2021-10-28T16:17:08+00:00","dateModified":"2021-10-28T16:22:53+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"Cooperation will be key if countries in the Eastern Africa sub-region are to tap opportunities created by the rising dem ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/experts-urge-collaboration-to-unlock-africas-rising-smartphone-market#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/experts-urge-collaboration-to-unlock-africas-rising-smartphone-market"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/experts-urge-collaboration-to-unlock-africas-rising-smartphone-market#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2021\/10\/img-617ace4568e88.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2021\/10\/img-617ace4568e88.jpg","width":847,"height":491,"caption":"Experts urge collaboration to unlock Africa\u2019s rising smartphone market"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/experts-urge-collaboration-to-unlock-africas-rising-smartphone-market#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Experts urge collaboration to unlock Africa\u2019s rising smartphone market"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/","name":"Rwanda","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3437"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3437\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}