LIVE FROM GSMA MOBILE 360 AFRICA: Mi-Fone, billed as being Africa’s first devices brand, has survived – and thrived – by being more prepared to customise its brand than larger rivals says Alpesh Patel, the man behind the brand.

“We are not in a position to keep up with the likes of Samsung, Nokia and Huawei so we have been very innovative. We don’t have any ego. The way we got into some of the carriers was by customisation. We enabled them to promote their own brands,” Patel (pictured) told attendees.

Patel is group CEO, Mi-Group International, the company behind Mi-Fone, which was set up in 2008. He has a 20 year background in the handset business.

“We set up in the middle of a recession. We are not founded by private equity or venture capital. It’s been a really tough journey and six years later we are surviving against all the odds. We are trading into 12 countries and established as the first African devices brand.”

Like many outsiders trying to break into the handsets business, Patel found the best way was to be more flexible than bigger rivals.

“We knew Motorola needed a 100,000 order before they would put anyone’s name on their phone. We used that to our advantage,” he explained about one deal Mi-Fone struck.

Another example was the Obama phone, released on the day Barack Obama became US President. “We figured if you could put his face on a cup or T-shirt, you could put it on a phone.” The company sold 8,000 phones in five days in western Kenya.

But being a pioneer is not easy. “The biggest challenge is the mindset of the African consumer today. I think they respect international brands more than homegrown ones. Also, I have lots of challenges with operators because they are big guys and only want to buy from other big guys”.