We did report five months ago that Maraphones in South Africa was shutting down and was set to be sold on an “offer” basis. The shut down was mandated by its funders, the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) and Standard Bank, and led to both financial institutions liquidating the entity. It was subsequently placed under business rescue in the hope of saving the entity and preserving jobs.
Maraphones’ plans to continue operations in South Africa fell under attack by the pandemic and lockdown. The South African factory was opened a week after Mara Phones was set up in Rwanda. However, the company said that, unlike in South Africa, the Rwandan facility remains operational and has been consistently in production.
Amidst the shutdown, Mara Phones workers in South Africa have alleged that the company is owing to their wages. Business Insider reported that “the workers who last worked in July 2021 when the factory halted operations, got paid in May 2021 for April and often had to endure late payments.”
Business Insider South Africa now says the SA’s hub of ‘true’ African smartphones has been acquired by a group of investors. The acquisition for an undisclosed sum and terms was made possible through a strategic partnership between the MBO team and Lebashe Investment Group, a 100 percent black-owned unlisted investment holding company with assets in financial services, technology, media, and telecommunications.
“The deal sees Lebashe Investment Group taking up a significant shareholding in the business, which consists of a portfolio of smartphones, tablets, and other smart devices,” a spokesperson for MaraPhones revealed.
The company’s next objective is on re-opening the factory, rebranding, marketing, and creating sustainable channels. It will also commit to establishing a healthy working environment and protecting employees’ dignity.
“Through this partnership, as the MBO team we are now able to deliver on the promise we made earlier this year to do everything in our power to save jobs, retain critical skills and keep the world-class manufacturing facilities of Mara Phones South Africa in Durban,”
Until the acquisition, MaraPhones South Africa was part of the global Mara Corporation and domiciled in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
In April 2019, Mara Phones established a smartphone manufacturing unit in Rwanda. The South African facility was launched in October 2019. Despite its closure in South Africa, the Rwandan facility remained operational and has been consistently in production.
The MBO team’s Sylverster Taku was a crucial figure in developing Mara’s strategy and led its execution. Having an experience of over 20 years in technology and media, he will now lead Maraphones. He has worked for Deloitte and Ernst and Young.
Taku, a chartered accountant with an MBA degree, is one out of two members of Mara Phone’s MBO team. He sat as the managing director of Mara’s local management team.
“It has been an arduous year working on this transaction and we persisted even when it looked like failure was the only obvious outcome because we understood that it is more than a company we were trying to rescue but also the aspirations of many Africans who will like to see a thriving smart devices manufacturing industry in South Africa and the continent.”
He also said that the team was moving swiftly to restart operations and retrain staff.
“The aim is to position Africa as a world-class manufacturing hub of hi-tech products and to locally manufacture affordable, high-quality mobile smart devices,” he said.
