SAP Technology, a global leading software companies, has promised it unflinching commitment to the development of West Africa through significant investments in the region.
The Vice President, SAP EMEA, Tim Noble disclosed this at a media conference in Lagos, saying the company had made a lot of investments in West Africa especially in Nigeria, Ghana and the rest of Anglophone countries in Africa.
Noble explained that about four years ago, SAP team were about five to six people in the country, but today, a lot of Nigerians who were in the diaspora had been brought back home to join the team, adding that SAP had worked with a lot of partners, an indicative of its commitment to West Africa region.
He stated that the company had partnered with many customers both local and international business organizations, expressing that SAP commitment in the continent is very important.
He said the company was targeting about 44 countries grouped into four regions in order to be more closed to their customers- The regions are the English speaking countries in West Africa, Francophone region, East Africa and southern Africa region.
Noble said that through this structure, the company had been able to train people, and invest in community where they are doing business.
“Tt is not about us coming in and doing business, but it is also about making sure that we becoming indigenous organization,” he said
He revealed that 2011, was the best year in SAP history, saying, the first quarters ended last year December was the best quarters in the past 40 years of the company’s existence. He added that the five key areas of growth and investment for SAP include Brazil, Russia, China, Middle East and Africa, noting that the company focused on five key areas such as applications which is in line with their goal of making the world run faster; SAP core analytical; mobility; database and technology.
The vice president expressed that they hope to focus on four industries that are doing well; financial services, oil and gas, manufacturing and public sector. He expressed SAP’s determination to recruit and grow at least a hundred people in a year, which is about 60 to 70 percent of growth in terms of people in the organization.
Speaking on SAP growth in the west Africa region, the managing director, SAP West Africa, Richard Edet, pointed out that in the short time he joined the company, they have overseen significant growth in the area of their revenue in the region, and their business has been growing in a very healthy way, stating that they have made investment with the caliber of people who joined in the diasporas to contribute to the development of the region.
Edet stated that they have executed couple of SCR related programmes especially in Nigeria where they have worked closely with foundation aimed at promoting business integrity as well as cashew- nut in Ghana, where they worked with farmers and helped them grow their business better.
The managing director also noted that in the area of partnership, they have developed the ecosystem more in the past four years, noting that in four years ago the organization had less partners working with, but now the channel is more robust and they have doubled the number of their partners.
He stressed that under their skill and capacity building, they have signed alliances with some universities in Nigeria notably university of Nigeria, covenant university and university of Lagos, saying the company is determined to commit resources at developing human capacity in the country .
The managing director, SAP Africa, Pfungwa Serima, explained that SAP has about three solutions which include business solutions that is very affordable and also meant for small organizations, another is one business solution band business swift solution Which is meant for a large organization, adding that any of the solutions brought into the market fits into any of their customers.