Is 3D printing the key to Africa’s dire manufacturing sector?

It’s not just a gimmick you often see on Kickstarter. 3D printing technologies have the ability to provide local communities with the access to facilities they need to produce and market their own products. It could enable the much-needed manufacturing industry to be personalised as well as democratised. What entrepreneurial opportunities could this “over-hyped gimmick” create for developing countries?

Imagine a doctor from the DRC who can make a prosthesis with materials found in his backyard. What if an engineer could design the newest African tablet or smartphone with metals found at a neighbouring mine? From shoes to toilets, from guns to houses, or even vuvuzelas — they could all be designed, printed and sold by Africans to Africans and markets beyond.

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