Kenyan Made Raspberry Pi Pico Boards Now on Sale in Africa

Raspberry Pi Pico boards manufactured in Kenya are now available for sale at electronic retailers in Africa. The Raspberry Pi Pico boards are manufactured in Kenya by Gearbox Europlacer.

At the start, the boards will be available to electronics resellers in Kenya, Rwanda, and Ghana. The manufacturing company says they will soon be available at retail outlets throughout the continent.

Raspberry Pi Pico is Raspberry Pi’s first microcontroller board. They are low cost devices made specifically for physical computing. Uniquely, they do not run any operating system. Primarily they are programmed to run a single specific task. Users reprogram the boards over USB via a Raspberry Pi or a computer.

Industrially, they are used to run custom devices and machinery.

The local manufacturing of the devices is a boost to the growing tech sector in Kenya and the region. Production in Kenya will increase access to these computing solutions in Africa. Export to Ghana earlier in the year was the first ever of its kind from Kenya.

Raspberry Pi Pico Boards Product of Partnership

Gearbox Europlacer is an electronics manufacturer with a focus on hardware innovation (mechanical, electrical and electromechanical). They have primarily been manufacturing Printed Circuit Boards Assemblies (PCBA), also known as motherboards.

The company has three partners in SMT, Weller Trust, and Parable Trust. In addition, Gearbox Europlacer operates Gearbox (a not-for-profit organization), to harness local talent, retain economic value within the country, and ultimately, positively impact Kenyan GDP.

The company began their operations in Kenya in 2021. Last year, they announced partnership with UK based computing solutions provider Raspberry Pi. Raspberry Pi is working with local partners to include computing in the local STEM curriculum. The partnership with Gearbox Europlacer will increase access to these computing solutions that were previously difficult to procure.