At eFones.com we are INCREDIBLY proud to announce our partnership with Mara Phones. New to the UK market, Mara Phones is a truly unique brand, being the first ‘Proudly African’ smartphone manufacturer, making the most ethical smartphones in the world.
Established in 2019, Mara Phones now has operations in 25 different countries on the African continent, growing over the last two decades by selectively partnering with multinationals and several individual experts. Since its establishment in 1996, the entire Mara brand has been a business with purpose, committed to making a positive difference in Africa and around the world.
Quality Job Creation
With Mara Group’s investments in the construction of the first ever smartphone factory on the African continent in Rwanda, as well as its new factory in South Africa, more than 11,000 people across the continent have been provided with high quality jobs. Of these workers, the majority are young with more than 60% being women, giving these struggling demographics in Africa great opportunities to improve their livelihoods and reduce the employment gap.
Producing almost every part of their smartphones domestically and employing 90% domestic workers in their Rwandan factory, Mara Group is able to train its workers in their wide-ranging roles, helping them to gain beneficial technical skills that will also benefit them in the many years to come as the economy evolves.
Having a rapidly developing economy, especially with investments in high-tech industries, Rwanda and many other African nations can grow closer to having economic independence, keeping profits within their society and benefitting their people directly from their own smartphone sales.
Long Term Prosperity for Africa
Anchored by its values of ‘Doing Good while Doing Well’, the Mara Foundation provides a free online mentoring project known as ‘Mara Mentor’, empowering young African entrepreneurs to create change for a sustainable future. Mara Mentor provides young African entrepreneurs with a multi-lingual online platform and mobile app allowing them to expand their business network, giving them access to the advice from already highly successful African entrepreneurs for free.
As well as assisting young entrepreneurs in improving their professional networks and industry knowledge, Mara Group has also partnered with a multitude of organisations aimed at teaching digital literacy to locals, such as Rwanda’s Digital Ambassadors Programme, increasing the skills of the population, connecting the country in order to bridge the ‘digital divide’ it has with the rest of the world.
With the Sustainable Development Goals motto of ‘Leave no one behind’, Mara Phones is key in Africa working towards a less polarised society. Working alongside the African Development Banks Presidential Youth Advisory Group (PYAG) and Jobs for Youth in Africa (JfYA), the Mara Foundation aims to create 25 million jobs and to skill 50 million youth and help deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals by 2025.
The Fight Against COVID-19
With the ongoing difficulties, Mara Phones has been very generous in donating vital resources for the battle against the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Most notably, Mara Phones Nigeria and Mara Phones Rwanda responded to calls for more sufficient PPE for healthcare workers and other frontline responders, donating 10,000 masks each in their respective countries.
Additionally, Mara Phones ran a campaign which donated a total of 500 smartphones to South Africa’s Department of Health and offered health care workers a subsidy on their products in order to assist in the fight against the spread of COVID-19 in the country.
The Ethical Smartphones
Talking about the phones themselves, Mara’s flagship smartphone, the Z1, comes with impressive mid-range specs. First and foremost, the Z1 comes with an expansive, near edge-to-edge 6.517-inch HD+ display for a highly immersive viewing experience, especially when viewing HD video. Powered by an octa-core Helio A25 processor and a large 4000mAh battery, the Mara Z1 runs its Android 10 software smoothly and easily lasts all-day with moderate use.
The Mara Z1 implements much-improved cameras from its predecessor. Featuring a triple rear camera setup, the Z1 comes with a 16MP primary, an 8MP wide-angle, and a 2MP depth camera. Like its main competitors, the Z1 also uses clever software to capture great images with its sensors. These algorithms and its AI Integration allow the Z1 to capture so many different types of shots, from Super Night Mode images, vast panoramic views, to trendy portrait mode photos with Background Blur.
The Mara Z1 also comes with many of the essential features you’d expect from a mid-range smartphone, and even some that are left out of many modern smartphones. Such features include 64GB storage that is expandable via microSD; NFC, allowing you to make mobile payments, transfer files to your device, and scan e-tickets; and Face ID along with a rear fingerprint sensor for fast and secure unlock.
The more affordable Mara X1 implements all of these essential features from the Z1, with the only main differences between the two devices being in the size, display, and cameras. Most notably, the Mara X1 comes with a smaller (yet still fairly large) 6.088†display with the same HD resolution, making it physically smaller and slightly easier to use in one hand than the flagship.
The X1 comes with a slightly less sharp 13MP main camera and does not come with the 8MP wide-angle camera used in the Z1, yet still integrates most of the camera features from the Z1, such as Super Night Mode, AI Integration, and Background Blur. One benefit the Mara X1 does have over the Z1 is its 2MP macro camera, allowing you to capture impressive close up images of the micro world.
Overall Mission
Designed in partnership with Google as part of the Android One programme, Mara Phones’ mission is to develop affordable high quality smart mobile products equipped with the latest technologies. With this, Mara Phones also promises strong aftersales support and robust security to create happy customers and an overall positive image for the brand.
Check out our YouTube video on Mara Phones here
Overview & Pricing
Mara is an unforgettable brand on its way to becoming a success story of the African people. The Mara Z1 is the perfect choice of smartphone for anyone who wants a great and unique product that is produced in an ethical way and that does good for the people who actually made it. Additionally, the Mara X1 is a great alternative to rival entry-level smartphones with its impressive features at a low price point, sharing all of the benefits of the Z1 in the production process.
Get the Maza Z1 for just £259 here https://efones.com/products/mara-phones-z1
Get the Mara X1 for just £199 here https://efones.com/products/mara-phones-x1
Want to pay in smaller payments? By purchasing direct from eFones.com you can take advantage of the Klarna service, allowing you to split the cost of the device over your choice of 3, 6, 12 months interest free or 24 months at just 18.9% APR.
