Ivory Coast Makes Its First Locally-made Smartphone

An entrepreneur in Ivory Coast has created the country’s first locally-made smartphone, which aims to improve accessibility with voice commands in local languages for users who can’t read and write.
Founder Alain Capo-Chichi said he wanted to create the phone to help people like his parents, who are illiterate, use features like transferring money and sending messages.
Alain said he has created the Open G phone to help people like his parents, who are illiterate, use features like transferring money and sending messages, thus creating a solution for Africa’s uneducated populace who have previously faced a major challenge in accessing key features that comes along with these phones.

The locally-made smartphone joins the list of other locally-made smartphones produced in other countries in Africa.
Africa recently joined the list of countries with locally manufactured smartphones globally in 2019, when Rwanda launched a locally-made phone by Mara Group.
The group recorded an important feat as it became the first to manufacture the first-ever ‘Made-in-Africa’ smartphone model. The phones named “Mara Phones” were launched on October 7, 2019, in Kigali, Rwanda and as a result gave a boost to the country’s ambitions of becoming a regional technology hub.