Thursday 3 September 2015

Computer assembly in Rwanda

The "East African" newspaper is reporting that a Rwandan factory is to start assembling laptop parts, and supplying the computers to local schools.  The article says that there is a shortage of laptops, citing problems with the quality of currently available models.  I suppose that computers of sufficient quality are too expensive in the market, and that the manufacturer is producing them more cheaply than available computers of an adequate standard.

It is exciting to read of a Rwandan factory able to compete on the international market, even if only in a niche market linked to the "One Laptop Per Child" program.  The foreign owners of the factory say that they intend further expansion in the region, exploiting economies of scale.  A welcome longer term outcome would be international sales in mass-market computers.

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