"We carried out a study last year which indicated that wherever we will try to make or assemble a phone in Africa, the cost will always be five percent higher than that of the phone made from China and Taiwan and imported into Africa, because the raw materials are still expensive, in addition to the labor needed," the minister stated.
"The study helped us to understand that if we want to enter a venture of looking for people to build phones and computers needed in our country and Africa [as a whole], we should consider together the incentives that can be provided so that the five percent [higher cost of production] goes down," Ingabire outlined.
"We observed that in different countries such as South Africa, Ethiopia, and Kenya which also started assembly lines, [they] seem to have stopped because of those economies of scale," the minister outlined.
"This is a general issue across Africa because we are not the ones who produce the raw materials we talk about. They are imported. […] So, as long [as] we import the raw materials [from] abroad, we will still be," he said.
"This means that one country cannot manage it alone. It requires that we come together as different countries, because for instance in the case of Rwanda, if those five million phones were produced and distributed, we would have concluded within two years. You cannot venture into a business for only a two-year market, it has to be long-term," the minister noted.