CITING economies of scale, improved infrastructure and tax reliefs, among<\/p>\n
others, Samsung Electronics has sited its first two African manufacturing
\nplants in South Africa and Egypt ahead of Nigeria.<\/p>\n
Though, Samsung has not ruled out the possibility of a manufacturing plant
\nin Nigeria, the firm however, disclosed that Egypt\u2019s plant would be
\nserving Nigeria and other West African countries, while the South African
\nplant would cater for the region and part of East Africa.<\/p>\n
The firm, disclosed this during an interaction with the media at the just
\nconcluded Samsung Africa Forum in Monaco on Wednessday.<\/p>\n
Samsung Regional Product Manager, Corrie Labuschange, who admitted that
\nNigeria\u2019s market is very strategic to the South Korean firm, said
\nhopefully in the future, a plant can be located in the country because the
\nfirm has the capacity.<\/p>\n
\u201cNigeria is a strategic market to Samsung and would remain so, but because
\nof larger economies of scale, well developed infrastructure network and
\ntax reliefs, we had to start with South Africa and Egypt\u201d, he stated.<\/p>\n
He however, disclosed that the firm does some manufacturing in Nigeria,
\n\u201cthough not Samsung owned plant, but a kind of knock down assembly
\nbusiness with some partners.\u201d<\/p>\n
Giving more insight into Samsung\u2019s operations in Nigeria, Head of
\nCorporate Marketing, Koye Sowemimo, disclosed that the South Korean firm
\nalready has an engineering academy in Nigeria, which is operated in
\npartnership with the Lagos State government.<\/p>\n
He also disclosed that the firm in April 2015, launched its first digital
\nvillage in Oban, Cross Rivers state, providing innovative healthcare and
\neducation services to community members.<\/p>\n
While the firm said it will use the engineering academies, which are also
\nin South Africa and Kenya to churn out 1000 engineers yearly, Sowemimo
\nsaid the target in Nigeria was to have 100 graduate engineers per academic
\nyear from the academy. He stressed that as part of follow up, Samsung will
\nafter the process, employ some of the engineers and also provide other
\nforms of opportunities for others.<\/p>\n
The firm, which currently has 39 manufacturing plants spread across the
\nglobe, explained that it\u2019s target was to empower 84,000 young people with
\nnecessary ICT skills from 2013 to 2019, across the globe.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, the firm said the engineering academies are expected to
\nfast-track the entry of African youths into the electronics job market and
\nthereby reduce the shortage of scarce skills in the IT industry.<\/p>\n
Chief Executive Officer and President, Samsung Africa, Yoo Young Kim, said
\nthe forum was packaged yearly to give African consumers more choice and
\nnew products, stressing that the firm also uses the gathering to unite and
\nstrengthen the region\u2019s market.<\/p>\n
Young Kim, who gave this year\u2019s theme as: \u2018One Beat, Rise Above\u2019, said
\nSamsung was very keen on meeting the diverse needs of people in Africa
\nwith technology so that the continent can rise above the present level.<\/p>\n
The firm, which claimed to contribute 29 per cent to South Korea\u2019s Gross
\nDomestic Product, disclosed that it plans to spend about $490 million in
\nsocial responsibilities activities across its markets in 2016<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
CITING economies of scale, improved infrastructure and tax reliefs, among others, Samsung Electronics has sited its first two African manufacturing plants in South Africa and Egypt ahead of Nigeria. Though,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46668,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n