Johannesburg, 03 Jun 2010
Samsung Electronics has boosted its African presence by 400% in the past six months, in the economic upturn, and has outlined plans to partner with local distributors.
The electronics giant says it is investing in skills development and recruitment through its Samsung Real Dreams project and plans to deploy 200 brand stores by the end of the year in sub-Saharan Africa.
“Africa's potential is staggering. 15% of the world's entire population lives on this vast continent, but it only produces 2.6% of global GDP,” explains George Ferreira, Samsung's chief operations officer for sub-Saharan Africa.
“It would need to enlarge its combined GDP five or six times to even come close to competing with the rest of the globe. In our view, that's an enormous opportunity to do business and grow our market share on the continent.”
Samsung Electronics has established offices in SA, Nairobi, Nigeria, Angola, and Namibia, and has recently opened up offices in Mauritius, Senegal, Uganda, Ethiopia and Cameroon.
Ferreira adds the organisation is building a storage and distribution hub at the Durban Port. He explains this will speed-up the process of delivering goods to African countries by 50%.
One of the biggest problems facing the market is the distribution and infiltration of counterfeit and grey products, especially in the mobile phone space. Ferreira points out that this issue is not exclusive to Samsung.
“It's a problem that affects the whole continent,” he notes. “We are currently working with local authorities and training them as to what genuine Samsung products should look like and educating the public on the benefits of purchasing genuine products.”
The organisation has strategically honed in on Africa's top 10 economies which together generate 79% of Africa's wealth and house almost 47% of the population. According to Ferreira, Samsung's key focus countries include SA, Nigeria, Kenya and Sudan.
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