VMK, The Maker of Africa’s Pioneer Smartphone and Tablet opens Shop in Côte d’Ivoire
VMK, the maker of Africa’s pioneer smartphone and tablet announced on Thursday last week, the Company opened up a store in Côte d’Ivoire’s capital, Abidjan. This marked the first step in the expansion of the Congolese Company’s operations in West Africa and beyond its home country’s borders. The VMK Abidjan store will exclusively sell a range of products from VMK.
The founder of VMK, Vérone Mankou, said, “The opening of a store in Abidjan is an essential step in the extension of our Pan-African vision. It is here, at the crossroads of West Africa, that VMK has decided to embark upon conquering the new class of African consumers.
We will offer a top-of-the-range selection of products, aimed at the general public. My underlying ambition is to bridge the digital gap in Africa.”
VMK’s first-ever store is in the Brazzaville, the Capital of the Republic of Congo, which the Company opened through a partnership with MTN. The Abidjan and the second VMK store is said to provide ten jobs, to people in Côte d’Ivoire. VMK is also planning to open new stores in the five other countries in West Africa by the end of this year. The company says that a second store will be opened in Abidjan and three others in Dakar, Kinshasa, and Douala before the end of 2015.
VMK makes smartphones that retails at prices ranging between $20.5 to $34, and recently launched its premium model yet, the Elikia L selling at about $112 that features a larger screen. The company is said to be also gearing up to launch its second tablet in the market come March, 2015. The tablet is said will retail at $242; VMK launched Africa’s first locally made tablet.
Currently, the company’s devices are being manufactured in China, but plans are underway to set up a factory in the Republic of Congo where device assembly will be done. The plant will be built in Brazzaville at a price tag of $2 million. The company is also ensuring local Congolese will be ready to be employed at the plant, by running a training program where more than 90 people are being trained. VMK plans to produce 350,000 devices on a monthly basis.
