Ask HN: How will you hunt for a smartphone brand CTO+team?

A fellow of mine looking for a team ready to relocate to a South Asian country to launch a multi-year project to manufacture entry-level smartphones designed from scratch, or at least deeply customised mediatek reference design.

They are already making smartphones from knockdown kits, but have zero EE/Software expertise in house. They are nearly 100% manufacturing people.

Is it even possible to have a readymade team procured from somewhere? Or will it need building a team from scratch?