At the heart of the rapid digital transformations taking place across the African continent, the GITEX Africa 2025 exhibition in Marrakech has established itself as a strategic platform revealing a fundamental shift in the dynamics of the African technology market. In this context, Moroccan company ACCENT has drawn attention with a business model that challenges the traditional dominance of large global companies in African markets, offering an alternative vision for the future of technology on the continent.
Redefining the « Made in Africa for Africa » Equation
ACCENT‘s experience presents an alternative model in the African market, based on the philosophy of « local production for regional consumption. » Since its establishment three decades ago, the company has not been content with offering imported or locally modified technological products but has developed an integrated strategy for design, manufacturing, and marketing based on specific local and regional needs.
In a significant statement, Group CEO Karim Mazouzi highlighted the essence of the problem by stating: « We have seen many contracts go to foreign companies… the last census contract went to a Korean company, and recently to Chinese products. » This statement reveals a fundamental challenge facing local manufacturers: how to convince local markets to trust local products first?
Diversification Strategy as a Foundation for Sustainability
What distinguishes ACCENT‘s approach is its methodical diversification strategy. Instead of focusing on a single sector, its products are distributed across three main axes:
- Educational Solutions: The company has proposed an integrated system including interactive boards, reinforced devices, and educational software, reflecting a deep understanding of the needs of Africa’s growing education sector.
- Digital Display Technologies: Through the development of LED screens with innovative designs adapted to different environments, characterized by structural flexibility (concave and convex designs) and resistance to harsh climatic conditions.
- Gaming Products: With the launch of the « AGX » brand targeting the growing segment of African youth, reflecting an understanding of the transformation of electronic games from simple entertainment to an integrated economic industry.
This diversification is not random but based on a strategic reading of the continent’s future needs: education as a pillar of human development, digital display as a tool for commercial and institutional communication, and games as a gateway to technical innovation and the digital economy.
Locality as a Competitive Advantage, Not a Constraint
ACCENT‘s strategy goes beyond the traditional view that considers locality as a constraint to competitiveness. The company has transformed its Moroccan and African identity into a competitive advantage by:
- Designing products that take into account the specificities of the African environment: such as Rugged Devices that withstand difficult working conditions in various sectors such as mining, transportation, and field healthcare.
- Providing integrated solutions, not just products: ACCENT offers complete systems including hardware, software, and services, thus creating added value that goes beyond the individual product.
- Building a regional distribution network: The company’s activities have expanded to 12 African countries, reflecting a deep understanding of the varied dynamics and requirements of the African market.
Challenges of Technological Localization in Africa
Despite its successes, ACCENT‘s experience reveals fundamental challenges in the process of technological localization in Africa:
- Competition from global companies: which have large marketing budgets and established global supply chains.
- Psychological bias against local products: which Mazouzi indirectly referenced by calling for prioritizing national products.
- The challenge of building local capacity: technological development requiring specialized skills that may be limited in local markets.
- Weak regional integration: despite the existence of interregional trade agreements, customs and administrative restrictions continue to impede the smooth movement of technological products between African countries.
The ACCENT Model and African Technological Sovereignty
ACCENT’s experience can be viewed in a broader context related to the concept of « technological sovereignty » that dominates global discussions. Africa, which has remained for decades a consumer market for Western and Asian technologies, faces an existential challenge: can it develop local capabilities allowing it to participate in creating the technological future rather than simply consuming it?
ACCENT‘s experience offers an ambitious answer to this question. Through its investment in developing advanced products with local skills, the company proves that technological sovereignty is not a theoretical slogan but an applicable journey, starting with progressive steps and requiring strategic patience.
Future Perspectives: From Manufacturing to Innovation
The central question remains: does ACCENT‘s model simply represent a limited commercial success, or can it be the nucleus of a deeper transformation in the African technological landscape?
The answer lies in the ability of the company and its peers to move from the « local manufacturing » phase to « local innovation. » Despite the importance of local product manufacturing, original technological innovation remains the key to creating real and sustainable added value.
ACCENT‘s current products, particularly in the field of flexible screens and reinforced devices, show promising signs of this transition. However, the path is just beginning and requires an integrated ecosystem including research and development centers, universities, venture capital, and supportive government policies.
Conclusion: Towards an African Vision of Technology
The importance of ACCENT‘s experience goes beyond the immediate economic dimension to pose a deeper civilizational question: can Africa develop its own vision of technology, rather than being content to reproduce Western or Asian models?
The Moroccan company’s experience offers positive indicators in this direction, particularly in its development of educational solutions that take into account the African cultural and social context, and in its focus on products addressing the continent’s specific challenges: from resistance to harsh climatic conditions to responding to growing educational needs.
With the continuation of global digital transformations, the greatest challenge for African companies like ACCENT remains achieving the delicate balance between openness to global knowledge on one hand, and developing an authentic African technological identity on the other. It is a challenge that goes beyond companies to include governments, societies, and educational systems across the entire continent.
The experience is just beginning, but it carries the promising seeds of an African technological future based on the principle « Made in Africa, for Africa, with an African vision. »
