Following public concerns over the quality of computers produced by Positivo BGH, the manufacturer of the first ‘Made-in-Rwanda’ laptops, the firm says the issue was not quality but rather a mismatch between demand and supply. In an exclusive interview with The New Times, the managing director of the Rwandan subsidiary of the South American multinational, Zoran Gordic, said the laptops in question were made in conformity with the terms of their contract with the Government of Rwanda. However, he said, the firm has recently started producing upgraded units. “When we started out, we were producing Intel classmate laptops that were meant for students in primary and secondary schools. But we later learnt that the market needs were different,” he said at the company’s Rwanda headquarters at the Kigali Special Economic Zone in Gasabo District. This is contrary to the terms of the non-disclosure agreement that the Latin American company had entered with the Government back in 2014, he said. Initially, the Positivo executive said, they were supposed to produce low-cost personal computers for children. However, the Positivo BGH laptops soon ended up in the hands of varsity students and public officers who need more sophisticated computers to perform their tasks. This, Gordic explained, created a misunderstanding among members of the public that the company did not have the capacity to produce high quality products that were market specific, an impression he said was wrong. “We have the capacity to produce any kind of computer depending on who the consumers are, depending on the target market. The implementation of this project didn’t fail because of our low expertise in producing quality devices,” he noted, adding that last year they started to produce advanced laptops suitable for both varsity students and other users. Their first lot of laptops had two gigabytes of random-access memory (RAM) and 320 gigabytes of hard disk, and were running on Celeron, a low-end processor. This could not allow certain users, like university students to perform complex functions like coding and programming. According to Gordic, upon the request of the Government, the company last year started making adjustments on the specifications of the laptops to meet the expectations of consumers, which saw them open a production of i5 and i7 computers. He said more than 18,000 of these high-end computers have since been produced for the Rwandan market. Initially, the firm was producing 150,000 computers per year, but it has since downsized to 40,000 a year. Firm to start producing power metres Meanwhile, Gordic said the company was exploring other avenues in the market, disclosing they were moving to produce electricity metres and wireless connectivity devices. “We are starting to produce the first Made-in-Rwanda electricity metres and connecting access points (caps), which will be unveiled this month,” he noted. Connecting access points are wireless connectivity devices which, according to the firm, will be used in the education sector, particularly in different schools to help provide access to internet to students across the country. In the long term, they say they will be producing billing machines, air conditioners and off-grid solar systems. According to the country’s ‘ICT in Education Policy’, there is a plan to ensure that technology is integrated in all education processes, including in preparation, delivery of lessons, assessments and research. In the policy, it is indicated that all teachers will be provided with a laptop complete with internet connectivity, courtesy of the Ministry of Education. editorial@newtimes.co.rw
