Samsung Electronics the global leader in digital media and digital convergence technologies, founded in South Korea 41 years ago, is going to set up an assembly plant in Ethiopia for refrigerators and home appliances.

George Ferreira Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Samsung Africa told Capital that his company is doing a feasibility study to set up an assembly plant for home appliances in the country, which will be the fifth plant in Africa for Samsung.

The COO said that Samsung has continued to innovate, reaching out across the globe to identify and develop key pockets of growth in Africa.

At the Samsung Africa Forum held in Johannesburg, South Africa, where Samsung showcases the latest innovations throughout all of its product categories, from audio visual and home appliances, to mobile handsets, digital cameras and notebooks, the COO said that Samsung will also open brand shops across Ethiopia to penetrate the untapped market.

At the forum Samsung also revealed its first 3D television which doesn’t require special glasses. The company also says their TV can also be used as a white board for education.

Another product, the Samsung Galaxy S, a new class of smartphone is expected to be one of the biggest technological advances in the industry. The forum, comprised of the media, customers, distributors and top Samsung executives and government officials, aims to promote co-operation, innovation and the exchange of new ideas in technology.

Outlining the company’s roadmap for growth in Africa, Mr. KK Park, head of Samsung Electronics African Headquarters, said:
“With 980 million people, 15 percent of the world’s population lives in Africa, but the region produces only 2.6 percent of global GDP. In our view, that growth potential is an enormous opportunity to do business and increase our market share in the continent.”

“In 2010, we are focusing in on Africa’s top 10 economies, which together generate 79 percent of the region’s wealth and have almost 47 percent of the population. Our key focus continues to be on countries with large and growing populations, such as South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and Sudan,” Mr. Park said.
Mensuir Abubakar Manager and owner of Garad Plc sole distributor of Samsung electronics told Capital that his company is doing a feasibility study to set up the assembly plant in collaboration with Samsung in the country. Mensuir was also the guest of honour at the opening of the forum held in South Africa for being the sole distributor of Samsung for the last 13 years.

Tadewos Awol Samsung country manager told Capital that Ethiopia is a strategic place to set up a plant. He added that Samsung is currently the African market share leader in the broad consumer electronics category, including being the No. 1 brand for TV’s, SBS Refrigerators.

Plans are underway to achieve leadership in other categories, including mobile phones, washing machines and air conditioners, through Samsung’s innovative product lineup, enhancing in-country marketing, strengthening distributor infrastructure, as well as tightening and improving supply chain management, he said.
Showing its strong commitment to the region, Samsung continues to expand its in-market presence with subsidiaries and branch offices, as well as the appointment of 12 senior country managers. Samsung currently employs 242 local staff across five subsidiaries and offices in Africa.


http://www.newsdire.com/business/1114-samsung-to-open-assembly-plant-in-ethiopia.html

Samsung to open engineering academy

Samsung is opening a state-of-the-art engineering institution that aims to produce more than 10,000 electronic engineers by the end of 2015. George Ferreira Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Samsung Electronics Africa told Capital that his company is currently carrying out a feasibility study to realize the institution which will be the second such educational facility in Africa next to the one in South Africa.

The C.O.O. said this will be a fully equipped school with the latest technological appliances and every student will be provided with the most sophisticated gadgets to help them undertake their studies easily.
The institution says they will select students from schools all over the country for further training. “We nominated and took students from grade 10 -12 and brought them to the academy to join the electronic world,” he added. The C.O.O. further added that “in the engineering academy we will have first class equipment and lecturers.”

According to Ferreira, the project will begin by next year and Samsung is planning to make the institution a world class academy. The company will use an initial investment of 1.5 million dollars for the first phase of the academy.
George also said “we will continue to invest in Ethiopia because we believe it has got a lot of potential to give both for Africa, East Africa and Samsung”
Meanwhile, the second annual Samsung Africa Forum 2011 took place at the Kenya International Convention Centre from 11 – 15 May 2011. The event is driven by the strategic need for technology investment and infiltration into Africa - to bridge the digital divide - the Samsung Africa Forum is a platform to demonstrate Samsung’s strategy into African investment, as well as to showcase over 500 line items of new products and key technology innovations that the company has to offer across the African continent.

Kwang Kee Park, President of Samsung Africa said during the opening of the forum that “Foreign direct investment has traditionally been one of the main channels of technology transfer into Africa, exceeding 800 percent between 2000 and 2008 where in fact, this investment equates about one percent of sub-Saharan Africa’s total GDP in 2008, estimated by the World Bank to be about $987 billion dollars. This is a clear indication that Africa is fast becoming a market rife with opportunity, where Samsung believes we have the ability to drive a solid market uptake of leading technologies, in the aim of increasing African economies through communications.”
This year’s Africa Forum has again demonstrated a strong investment into the African continent, not only from a monetary perspective, but more importantly, through the delivery of best practice advisory to a large number of leading African businessmen.

“Furthermore, if we consider the fact that 13 African countries already have a higher per capita GDP than China and 22 higher than India, there is no doubt that this continent – filled with affluent, competent individuals - is on the brink of a technology adoption revolution and as a result, Samsung is ensuring that we are at the forefront of technology provision and education across Africa, providing products “Built for Africa” and increasing economic growth as a result,” KK Park concludes.

During the forum Samsung introduced cutting edge technologies that have been considered as a myth including solar powered laptops with higher capacity processors than the conventional electric power consuming laptops. Moreover Samsung also showcased the world’s biggest LED television that measures 75 inches which is almost borderless.

Capital (http://www.capitalethiopia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=14692:samsung-to-open-engineering-academy-&catid=12:local-news&Itemid=4)


Article is a few months old, but still good. Posted in the Education thread also. Not sure if the two news stories are related but decided to add it here anyway.