SAP Key Strategy for Growth in Africa

SAP, the developers of enterprise business application software that makes companies more efficient, more productive, and more profitable recently revealed its strategy for growth and investment in Nigeria.

Speaking at the media parley organized by absolutePR, Vice-President of SAP Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), Tim Noble said “This is a very exciting time for SAP in Africa as well as globally. SAP is growing very quickly; last year was the best year in SAP’s 40 year history.” He noted that there are five key areas of SAP growth in terms of geography; they are Brazil, Russia, China, Middle East and Africa.  SAP’s overall strategy is premised on five focus area

He explained that the first is the whole layer of Applications, and our goal is to make the world run better. The second is called SAP analytics; where we have a clear understanding of our customers and we provide solutions to businesses. The third is in the area of mobility with SAP enabling and powering mobile devices, and fourth is database and technology.  The fifth area is in the area of cloud.

“Noble added that Nigeria is one of the most important markets for SAP. We need to grow by about a 100 people a year in SAP and we have to build more partners. Through SAP and appropriate partners, we will have significant growth throughout Africa,” he said.

The Managing Director, SAP West Africa, Mr. Richard Edet, said SAP has seen significant growth in terms of revenue. He noted that SAP is not only for big organizations, “we provide solutions that can fit any customer with more than 88000 small medium enterprises world-wide. We have a customer of ours who operates from Alaba market. We also have a car dealer who is our customer. ”

Mr.Edet also explained that they are working with University of Nigeria Nsukka, Covenant University and the University of Lagos under their university Alliance program. Speaking about the company’s young professional scheme to Nigerians, he said, SAP has a scheme that will take graduates from university and train them.  “We have several educational partners who deliver classroom lectures. We are also in talks with big organizations to train people.

The Head of the Africa market, Mr. Pfungwa Serima, spoke further on the growth of SAP in the African continent.

He said, “We have been fortunate to have worked with partners and we also partner with a lot of customers and our commitment to Nigeria is very important.”

“We are also investing in communities where we are doing business because it is not only about us coming in to do business but we have to be indigenous.“ The business has been going great. We have seen a lot of investment in terms of revenue.   A considerable amount of local people have joined SAP from the diaspora and this is encouraging for Africans returning home.  We have also been involved in CSR activities in Nigeria aimed at promoting education, economic opportunity and business integrity,” he said.