UK-based computing solutions provider Raspberry Pi plans to produce some of its flagship hardware devices in Kenya through a partnership with Gearbox Europlacer.
The products to be manufactured at Gearbox Europlacer beginning mid-November 2022 will bear a ‘Made in Kenya’ mark and will be available to its customers both in Kenya and the East and Central Africa region.
Raspberry Pi, since its inception, has been instrumental in the resurgence of teaching basic computer science skills across the world through its popular Raspberry Pi single-board computers. These devices have sold over 50 million devices in the last 10 years.
Raspberry Pi is working with local partners to include computing to the local STEM curriculum. The partnership with Gearbox Europlacer will increase access to these computing solutions that were previously difficult to procure.
Earlier this week, Liquid Intelligent Technologies also partnered with the firm as a reseller of their devices to schools in Kenya. The move also marked Liquid’s first foray into the device sector.
The Raspberry Pi is known for designing Raspberry Pi single-board computers. These low-cost, high-performance computing platforms, initially created for computer and technology hobbyists, are now also aimed at promoting the teaching of basic computer science and coding to children in schools.
Gearbox Europlacer, on the other hand, is an electronics manufacturing services provider (EMS) based in Nairobi. It began its operations in 2021 to catalyse the development of best-fit intelligent African solutions that solve African problems, serving young innovators to mature companies in a variety of growth positive sectors such Agritech, climate change, electric mobility, and smart metering solutions among others.
Gearbox Europlacer is a joint venture between a Kenyan-owned maker/product realisation space called Gearbox that has been instrumental in supporting local hardware innovations since 2014, Europlacer, a British-owned Surface mount technology (SMT) equipment manufacturer fully owned by a Christian charity Parable Trust and Wellers Impact, UK based impact investment firm with extensive experience in Africa.
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