Ditec has come of age
Botswana’s consumer electronics company has taken the African market by storm
Botswana’s consumer electronics sector is set to grow exponentially in the coming years, especially with government pushing hard for a transition towards the fourth industrial revolution.
In fact, according to data sourced from Statia, the sector amounts to $ 239.50 million, and is expected to grow by an average of 3.9 percent between 2022- 2027. One of the companies which is set to gain big in the country and the continent’s expanding consumer electronic sector is Ditec which was founded by the enterprising, Thatayaone Dichaba some ten years ago.
The home- grown company, which now has the African continent at its feet, started off as a cellphone assembly company, but has since moved to the production of a wide range of products such as TVs, fridges, headsets, wifi- routers among others.
In an interview with Botswana Guardian at their retail store in the opulent Game City mall, the company’s marketing executive, Lesedi Sebako said, Ditec is truly a Pan African business, rooted in Botswana. “When we started, most of the business was coming from outside the country,” she remembers. Her eyes light up when she talks about their first Africa deal, in which they were commissioned by Airtel Uganda for the design and customisation of their smartphone. “We will be forever grateful for this confidence shown by Airtel Uganda, especially since we were a start up by then,” said Lesedi. Another breakthrough for the company came in 2016, when Botswana Telecommunications Corporation Limited also commissioned them for a similar project. The deal was to design and customise the BTC Touch phone. Any business has its own challenges. The challenges are even more profound in sectors such as the consumer electronics which are dominated by players from developed economies. “The main challenge is perception. When we started, some people were actually in doubt that a local company can assemble, let alone produce a smartphone. At Ditec, we have always believed that anyone can do it, as long as there is passion and the drive,” said Lesedi as a matter of fact. She urged locals to support domestic businesses, which will enable them ( businesses) to grow and become recognised players, both locally and abroad.
After years of marketing their products, Lesedi has explained that the uptake of their products has increased. “I wish to categorically state that Batswana have now changed their perception towards our products. For this, I will like to thank BITCs Pusha BW initiative which has really helped us penetrate the domestic market further,” she added. As a matter of fact, at the recent Botswana Consumer Fair, one of the company’s products, the tablet was sold out. The other main challenge the company experienced during its infancy stage was capital. Although the company did receive some funding from Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency ( CEDA), “the challenge was that we needed to spend more money on research and development before we could actually start procuring plant equipment for assembling and production.”
Financing the consumer electronics business is not easy, as financial resources are not all channeled towards equipment, ‘ but also in the production of prototypes which are also rigorously tested before they are approved.” Most of the consumers in the consumer electronics, especially smartphone sub- sector has limited options when it comes to local content. “Over the years, we noticed that, Africans are not consuming their content. As a result, we have partnered with others to create platforms where African developers can develop their own content for the local market,” she said, adding that this will go a long way in empowering upcoming developers.
As a matter of fact, all Ditec smartphones are preinstalled with DiApps, which is a platform ( application store) that houses applications developed by African developers. Perhaps, the biggest achievement of the Ditec to date, has been the separation of the company’s plant operations from retail shops. The company now has a fully fledged plant at Botswana Innovation Hub, which is operated by sister company, Dichaba Consumer Electronics. And then there is Ditec which runs retail shops. The former, has just completed an order of 20 000 laptops which government will distribute to secondary students and teachers across the country. In addition, Dichaba Consumer Electronics also assembled 3000 tablets for Statistics Botswana which were recently used for the national census. Ditec also empowers local distributors who retail its consumer electronics across the country. The company will open its first franchise store in Palapye in the coming weeks. The franchise is owned by a citizen. “This is part of our citizen economic empowerment initiatives,” she added. The company now has its products in countries such as Zimbabwe, Uganda, Namibia, Mozambique among others. “We are also targeting the West and East African markets,” she disclosed. Ditec, which offers exceptional range of electronics with a wide appeal to people, has heaped praises on Botswana Investment and Trade Centre ( BITC) for their assistance from the word go. “We have managed to penetrate the African market, largely because of the assistance we got from BITC. The Agency has played a major role in creating platforms where we managed to connect with potential clients. Some of these clients we could not have met had it not been for BITC. For example, BITC played a crucial role in the conclusion of our M- Cell deal,” said a content Lesedi. In addition, BITC has also helped Ditec, with getting proper regulatory information on markets they have now successfully entered. BITC ‘ Pusha BW campaign has also helped, especially when it comes to pushing sales in the domestic market. PushaBW is BITC campaign, which encourages uptake of locally produced goods and services. This will help create job opportunities and boost pride in local products by promoting Botswana companies and their homegrown products and services. As a responsible corporate, Ditec is working on projects which have meaningful impact on the communities they operate in. They support an NGO called Dare To Dream. They have also sponsored Hackathons which help unearth young entrepreneurs.