Gobignews.blogspot.com is part of history has Lenovo Africa shared details of its successful performance and growth over the last
quarter, despite the industry as a whole going through a consolidation period. Lenovo Africa continues to see positive growth
across consumer and commercial sectors in its PC, smartphone and server
categories and has enjoyed a record second quarter.
Figures
recently released by the International Data Corporation (IDC) show that while
Africa as a whole had recorded a decline in the English-speaking PC market of
23%, Lenovo has grown 42.8% and now has a market share of 21.3% - growing four
points quarter on quarter. In South Africa, the company grew 20.7% while the
market was down 12.6%, and now occupies the number one spot with 26.7% across
consumer, commercial and enterprise.
Lenovo’s
share of the PC market also remained strong in other significant African
markets. In Nigeria, the company reached 30% market share for the first time,
growing 95.7% year on year, while Kenya saw similar growth, reaching 25.8%
market share after a growth of 109.1% year on year. Closer to home, Lenovo
occupies the number one spot in Namibia, with 21.4% market share.
Commenting on the positive growth, General Manager of Lenovo Africa, Graham Braum, says: “Lenovo Africa has shown good growth across the consumer and commercial segments. We have expanded our English-speaking territory into four sub-territories – South Africa, SADC, East Africa, West Africa, with focused teams in each. Lenovo’s ‘Protect and Attack’ strategy has given us great traction in both spaces.”
Beyond
the PC market, Lenovo Africa has also seen growth in the server market. South
Africa was one of the first countries in the region to launch ThinkServer, and there has been a good
uptake from the channel in the first three months. Lenovo’s Enterprise Business
Group (EBG) and server business has seen an overall double digit market share
and is now focusing on realigning this business to close the gap with its
competitors.
Braum
comments: “We are investing heavily in the breadth and depth of the channel
when it comes to the server market, which we hope will translate into more
sales. In addition, we have recently signed a contract with BMW to roll out our
x86 server infrastructure in 45 countries. This shows that we are successfully
integrating our System x products into our.”
The
smartphone market is also a relatively new one for Lenovo Africa, and another
in which the company has made good traction thus far. In Nigeria, Lenovo
smartphones have reached more than 4% of market share, becoming the number
three player in just three quarters. Egypt, which saw the launch of Lenovo
smartphones soon after Nigeria, now places the brand at number two, where it
occupies 13.3% market share. The company plans to add SADC and East African
countries to the mix next, and is set to launch Motorola in South Africa before
the end of the year.
Braum
said: “We’ve made significant inroads in the smartphone market and every
country has made good progress. We aim to be in the top three brands and build
on this, and we are getting there quickly. Once again, we are going in with our
‘protect and attack’ strategy, engaging proactively with mobile operators and
partners in each country.”
Lenovo
Africa has been faced with the challenge of moving from being product centric
to customer centric. The company’s goal is to keep the end user at heart,
whether looking at the consumer or commercial sector, and to build end-to-end solutions
incorporating software, hardware and the cloud.
“We
have built a solid foundation and now we need to move to the next level to
achieve success,” says Braum. “By focusing on each part of our business, from
PC to server and smartphone, we aim to remain agile and flexible as the market
evolves. Our plan is for Lenovo to be the in the number two spot in the next
five to seven years, and number one in the next 10 years. So we’ve got our work
cut out for us, but I believe we have the momentum and opportunities to keep
growing.”
(L-R) ‘Tokunbo Modupe, Chief
Consultant, TPT International; Bolade Oyekanmi, Marketing Manager, Lenovo Tech,
West Africa; and Nkechi Okolo, Service Manager, Lenovo Tech, West Africa; at
the media briefing held by Lenovo on the company’s new range of products
available in Nigeria. The briefing was held at Protea Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos.
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