Satyam doubles in Africa

By Leon Engelbrecht, ITWeb senior writer

Johannesburg, 25 Apr 2008

Satyam Computer Services, the Indian export, has again doubled its Africa revenue in the last quarter, says Asia Pacific, Africa, Middle East and India director and senior VP Virender Aggarwal.

"This year, we've done exceptionally well in this region," he says, commenting on the global IT giant's 2008 Q1 results released earlier this week. "Africa contributed around 3.5% to our APAC-MEIA revenues, which is a 100% growth for us."

In January, he reported the same for the last quarter of 2007.

Aggarwal says his region contributed 19.25% of global revenue of $2.1 billion for the quarter ending 31 March. "Our results have lent credence to Satyam's operating model and our focus on generating revenues from 'non-US' regions," he says.

"Consequently, the share of revenues from the 'rest of world' has now increased to over 19% off between 16-17% last year. Moreover, for the past 10 quarters we have been ahead of many of our competitors in our ability to sustain growth parameters consistently."

In addition to Satyam's Q3 acquisition of Chicago-based management consulting firm, Bridge Strategy Group, Aggarwal says the Hyderabad-based behemoth has entered into agreement to acquire S&V Management Consultants, a Belgium-based supply chain management consulting firm.

Satyam has also enhanced its relationship with Caterpillar by agreeing to acquire its market research and customer analytics operations.

In Africa

Aggarwal has also been busy in Africa. "We've been expanding our presence in Kenya, Nigeria and Egypt," he says, where a newly inaugurated Global Development Centre (GDC) will serve as a near shore centre for Satyam's clients in Africa, the Middle East and Europe.

The 2 100-square metre GDC is said to be a cornerstone for Satyam's regional strategy. The centre has two training labs with 300 seats, 250 workstations and offices for 22 project leaders as well as nine account managers.

Satyam now has offices in Cape Town and Johannesburg, Abuja (Nigeria), Accra (Ghana), Cairo (Egypt), Gaborone (Botswana), Nairobi (Kenya), Port Louis (Mauritius), and Tunis (Tunisia). These offices service over 50 major customers in aviation, government, banking and financial services, oil and gas, as well as mining.