Logitech is expanding its African footprint, planning to increase its local workforce, grow its partner network and strengthen distribution across markets beyond its established bases in South Africa, Egypt and Morocco.
Jawad Jabalane, head of Africa at Logitech for Business, says the continent represents a major growth opportunity for the company, despite Africa currently accounting for a limited share of its overall revenue.
Logitech is a global manufacturer of personal peripherals and software for office productivity, streaming and gaming.
Speaking to ITWeb on the sidelines of Logitech’s Rise MEA Partner Summit in Cairo yesterday, Jabalane said the company is increasing the number of employees focused on Africa and seeing strong interest from channel partners across the continent.
“We are adding more and more people working for Logitech on the continent. We have more and more partners looking to collaborate and partner with Logitech.”
Jabalane said Logitech is particularly focused on markets where it has historically had a limited presence, while continuing to build on stronger markets, such as South Africa, Morocco and Egypt.
“Africa itself is a major opportunity for Logitech and this is where the focus will be given in the coming years.”
He identified Nigeria and Kenya among the markets where Logitech is developing its presence, while highlighting opportunities across French-speaking Africa and other countries.
It is also looking at expanding its team to support growth in other markets, including Namibia and Mozambique, he said.
Jabalane said Logitech's channel ecosystem is expanding rapidly across Africa, although he did not provide continent-wide partner numbers.
“We have been growing like crazy,” he said, adding that country-level data shows increased interest from partners across the continent.
The expansion is not limited to its larger markets. “Nowadays, we see every country in Africa, Benin, Togo, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, all countries are looking to interact with us from the partner [perspective], and it's very great news for Logitech.”
Its go-to-market model in Africa remains channel-led. The company sells through distributors, which supply dealers and resellers that ultimately sell to end-users, he explained.
Jabalane said strengthening distribution is therefore one of the priorities as it expands into more African markets.
Distribution challenge
He identified the distribution landscape as one of the main areas that needs to improve if Logitech is to reach more African customers. “We do need to collaborate with [partners who] have the capability to have stock in-country.”
According to Jabalane, Logitech wants distributors to hold inventory locally rather than relying on partners to effectively perform the role of distributors themselves.
The company is consequently working to increase stock availability in African markets and improve lead times.
He cited Zambia as an example, saying products for that market are often supplied from South Africa.
The same approach is being considered for markets such as Mozambique, where the firm wants to establish a more reliable supply chain.
For Jabalane, building a stronger distribution footprint is a key step in unlocking further growth across Africa.
AI built into products
Jabalane also pointed to artificial intelligence (AI) as increasingly important to Logitech’s product strategy, particularly in its business collaboration products.
However, he said Logitech’s focus is not on selling AI as a standalone feature, but on using it to improve the user experience.
“Look, everybody nowadays speaks about AI, in some cases without even understanding what AI means.”
At Logitech, he said, AI is being embedded into products to improve meeting-room experiences, including camera views, video and audio quality, and the ability to capture information from meetings.
“AI will help us to have multiple view cameras. AI will help to improve the video quality. AI will be able to improve the audio quality.”
The technology should largely remain invisible to customers, he added. “The user should be aware of it, but this isn't making us buy it. I'm not paying for the AI, but they are buying the efficiency.”
Small revenue contributor
Despite the expansion plans, Jabalane said Africa currently contributes only a limited percentage of Logitech's global revenue.
He declined to provide a specific figure, saying he did not have full visibility of the regional numbers.
The relatively small contribution, however, is part of the reason it sees room for significant growth, particularly as it expands its workforce, channel partnerships and distribution infrastructure.
Jabalane also said Logitech was not materially affected by global chip shortages in terms of product availability, although it was affected by increases in semiconductor prices.
It responded by increasing some prices, while maintaining stock planning to avoid production disruptions.
“We are quite good in supplying and anticipating stock in terms of chips, to not have any lack of production.”
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