Relatively a newcomer to the global consumer market, Lenovo – the Beijing-based leading PC and smartphone maker – has pledged to become a dominant market player in Ethiopia.
Signing a dealership agreement with local-based Bridgetech PLC, executives of Lenovo said that the company would introduce the latest innovation to the Ethiopian consumer and enterprise markets. Marc Godin, vice president and general manager of Lenovo Middle East, Turkey and Africa, led the team that met with some 40 public and private enterprises.
Lenovo’s PC and smart device business, which include tablets, have a considerable market share following merger with IBM. Spurred by strong growth in North America, the company targets to become more competitive in East Africa with a particular focus on Ethiopia. US firms HP and Dell follow Lenovo as leaders in the global PC market.
Mohammed Hilili, general manager of Lenovo in the Gulf, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and East Africa, told The Reporter that Ethiopia would be the most valued market for mobile and PC markets in the region owing to its growing population.
With a USD 40 billion turnover capital, Lenovo is poised to partake in one of the relatively large procurement of tablet PCs the government has announced. The Central Statistics Agency (CSA) is preparing to undertake the Fourth National Population and Housing Census. Some 180,000 tablet PCs worth hundreds of millions of bill will be required for the task. The likes of Lenovo are considering being potential suppliers of equipment. However, Hilili declined to give specifics about the involvement of Lenovo in the procurement process. He noted that the bid was at an early stage. With evolving technologies, Lenovo claims it would provide the Ethiopian market with better solutions for affordable prices than the dominant Android systems have offered so far to the country.
Lenovo became a global player following the acquisition of PC businesses from IBM in 2005. Back in 2014, Lenovo bought Motorola for USD 2.91 billion. The globally renowned Motorola Mobility includes the Motorola brand and Motorola Mobility’s portfolio of innovative smartphones such as Moto X and Moto G and the DROID Ultra series are part of the deal.
