‘Nigeria is Epson’s hub for West African markets’

The Head, Regional Sales for Africa and Europe at Seiko Epson, Mr. Michael Hunt, has said that Nigeria would be the hub for its market outreach in the West African
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) markets.

Speaking at a one-day customers’ forum organized by Epson Nigeria in Lagos, Mr. Hunt noted that bringing this forum to Lagos, Nigeria, is an indication of how serious Epson Africa takes the market.

Africa, he said, is the second largest continent with 54 countries and AFIS region
consists of 24 countries with 32 distributors made up of businesses and retail.

He also listed Nigeria as being among the top 10 economies on the continent for Epson products led by South Africa and includes Algeria and Angola to name a few.

“Nigeria would be the base to market Epson in West Africa across Ghana, and Sierra Leone,” he said.

Equally he listed two key distributors of Epson in the country including Technology Distribution (TD) and Nakanwura Technologies, saying that both have offices across the country for retail purposes, in addition to maintaining warranty centre at Computer Plus, even as they also uses the United Kingdom-based distributors like WestCon Africa and Tri-Continental and DistAfrica to name a few.

Further, he said that the 50 per cent of Epson revenue annually still comes from Dot Matrix printers in Africa and the demand would continue to rise, though it’s being used mainly by banks.

In his address at the occasion, the Chief Operating Officer (COO) for Seiko Epson, Mr. Tadaaki Hagata, tasked its partners and customers in African to share in the company’s goal of exceeding their vision.

Hagata also said that the ultimate goal of the company is to ensure that its partners and customers alike buy into its goal of making certain that whoever gets in contact with them for business purposes exceeds his or her vision.

He urged them to always remember that the sole platform being created by the company is for all its partners and customers specifically to achieve beyond their imagination.

“In partnership with Epson, you can exceed your vision and always remember that,” he declared.

Mr. Hagata who was equally accompanied at the forum by the Account Manager for Africa, Mr. Shaun Robinson, Support Specialist, Mr. Maier Roberts, Accounts Manager for Nigeria, Mr. Joseph Ejiogu, Sales Expansion Manager, Mr. Fukaishei Acitino, Product Business Manager-Africa, Ms Chiyo Kubota and Business System director, Mr. Whley Jason, said that they now have in-country accounts manager in the person of Mr. Ejiogu, to further strengthen Epson presence in the country.

Epson, he noted has been doing business in Nigeria with both public and private sectors, stressing that the company made over $12 billion in annual turnover, though he was not specific about the figure originating from Africa and Nigeria precisely.

Hagata further said that they are working at making the market better by engaging more sellers with good offering.

On the future goal of Epson for Africa, he said that they have challenged themselves to maintain the provision of the products that would avail customers to exceed their goals as they go about their businesses.

For the Director, Business System, Mr. Whley Jason said that in Epson, they have since realized that planning for the future is unrealistic without consideration for the environment, hence, the company came with an environmental friendly vision towards 2050.

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