Zinox Technologies, manufacturers of Zinox Computers, has explained its presence in the capital of Ghana, Accra, where it tends to commence offshore production come September this year, just as it eyes three other countries in the sub-region.
Group Head, Brand Development and Communication at Zinox, Mr. Clement Ugorji, said it is a strategic step to enable the company meet the increasing demand in Ghana and other neighbouring countries for Zinox Personal Computers (PCs), laptops, servers and Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS), while taking advantage of Ghana’s favorable production climate.
The step, he also said will bring the products nearer and at more affordable costs to consumers in those markets, stressing that Zinox has since received necessary approvals from relevant Ghanaian government agencies, and the company’s four-storey complex in Accra consisting of offices and an ultramodern plant would be completed in July.
“The plant will be test run by August and full production will commence in September,” he said
Mr. Ugorji made it clear that Zinox Technologies will continue to manufacture its products at the main plant in Lagos, to serve the enormous Nigerian market where it already enjoys entrenched leadership position.
“Extending its production base to Ghana will significantly reduce the price of Zinox products in neighboring countries, because of substantially lower production costs made possible by stable power supply, zero duty on imported components and zero Value Added Tax (VAT) that Ghana offers,” he asserted.
Noting that this is a sharp contrast to the situation in Nigeria where IT manufacturers pay between 5 per cent and 10 per cent duty on components; while, paradoxically, imported fully built computers attract zero duty.
He further explained that Zinox Technologies is confident that Zinox (Ghana) will be a very successful venture.
According to him, apart from lower production costs the company envisages radical growth in demand for its products, given the imminent explosion in IT capacity that will result from the ongoing World Bank-assisted project to ring the entire country by optic fiber.
“Consequently reducing the cost of bandwidth and making the Internet accessible and affordable to all Ghanaians wherever they live,” he noted.
The optic fiber project is a forward-looking strategy by the Ghanaian government to boost IT capacity and effectively transform the country into West Africa’s regional ICT hub.
He also disclosed that the forthcoming entrance of Zinox into the Ghanaian market is creating excitement there, and the company is already receiving orders for supply and installation of its systems in Ghana.
He further revealed that three other countries in the West and Central Africa regions have invited Zinox Technologies to establish production plants, and the company is seriously appraising these possibilities.
He noted that these developments, which reflect the growing international recognition and acceptance of Zinox products also strengthen the company’s ambition to become the dominant African IT brand of world-class standards.
Zinox, brainchild of Chief Leo Stan Ekeh was launched in 2001 with a public trust committed to a spiritual responsibility to achieve technology independence not only for Nigeria but also for the entire Africa.
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