Sahara intensifies its OEM focus

Having recently become SA's second largest PC manufacturer, Sahara Computers has taken a decision to intensify its focus on its OEM (original equipment manufacturer) business.

In line with this, the company has reached an agreement with its sole motherboard supplier for the past two years, ASUSTek Computer, to become a fully-fledged OEM partner.

According to Atul Gupta, MD of Sahara, the agreement will allow the local company to achieve greater economies of scale because it no longer needs to carry the full range of ASUS products while also allowing Sahara to carry the products of other manufacturers.

"Under the previous agreement, Sahara was the sole distributor for ASUS products in southern Africa -- a situation that carries with it the responsibility of stocking the full range of ASUS products and limits access to competitive products," he says.

Jack Chen, SA channel manager at ASUSTek, says Sahara has done an exceptional job for the company and that the time had come to appoint another distributor.

"Sahara has become an OEM manufacturer by virtue of its strong position in the branded PC market. We realised that if we wanted to increase South African market share, we needed another distributor."

Sahara has welcomed discussions between ASUSTek and other local distributors. "These talks have resulted in another distributor being appointed and assuming the opportunity for the distribution of the full range of ASUS products," says Chen.

"It's a win-win situation because ASUSTek wants freedom from our exclusive contract to identify and appoint another distributor and we want access to other manufacturers products," concludes Gupta.