Ridhwan Khan, the founder and CEO of Mobicel, is South Africa's only successful homegrown budget smartphone brand. The brand has rolled out hundreds of phone models since its launch around 17 years ago. Khan's initial venture into the mobile retail industry started in the UK, where he refurbished and sold used phones. He realized that his home country had a huge market for mobile connectivity but many people could not afford the devices on offer.
Upon returning to South Africa in 2002, he opened a local refurbishment business focused on the lower-income market in informal areas. By 2005, he was reportedly selling over 50,000 refurbished units per month. However, building a strong phone brand in the informal sector was difficult, as traders in places like spaza shops were primarily interested in sales. Khan saw the opportunity to strike the perfect balance between affordability and quality, with the ultimate aim to manufacture a local range of devices.
Khan exited the used phone business and founded Mobicel in 2007, using the profit from his successful refurbishing company to create a phone brand that could compete against international heavyweights. He ordered a phone custom-made to his own specifications that he believed would be relevant to the South African market. He then had to convince big retailers that the product would sell. His first breakthrough was securing a distribution contract with retail group Edcon, which helped him overcome the stigma surrounding entry-level devices and so-called "fong kong" or counterfeit products from China.
Mobicel's products are currently sold by all four of the country's major mobile networks and additional retailing giants Pep and Ackermans. Over the past four years, many of Mobicel's phones have been assembled at its production facility in Johannesburg.
Khan believes that Mobicel also has an edge in customer service, offering a warranty card, a hotline, and online support. He believes that a bad experience and word-of-mouth can damage the brand.
Mobicel currently offers numerous feature phones and smartphones with prices from less than R500 going all the way up to R2,999 for a more capable handset. A recent analysis by MyBroadband found the brand offered two of the best smartphones under R1,000 with 4G capability, a noteworthy achievement considering the flood of Chinese budget smartphones in the market in recent years.
