Epson Reinforces its Regional Operational Presence in Kenya

May 31, 2012— Epson, a global  imaging and innovation company, has enhanced its presence in Sub-Saharan Africa with the reinforcement of a regional business platform in Nairobi, Kenya.

The short-term plan of establishing an office in Nairobi, will act as the hub for Epson’s business operations in the East and Central Africa region. This is part of Epson’s growth strategy which  aims at increasing its market share and sales this financial year.

To achieve the envisaged growth, Epson intends to launch over 140 new products with each one of them engineered for business, offer superior after-sale-service and strengthen its distribution network in emerging markets like Kenya and Sub-Saharan Africa. Espon plans to be recognized as a credible business brand as well as maintaining its position to consumers and has set aside resource and marketing support to drive growth.

“In our chosen markets on the African continent, we intend to gain market share at a higher rate than market growth by striving to develop and create ground-breaking innovative products at affordable prices for all market segments,” said Mukesh Bector, Regional Manager for Epson East Africa. The firm will also be targeting the banking, education sector and government to grow its sales.

The company has also identified business products as a major sector for growth. Last year, 67 percent of Epson’s revenue across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Russia was generated by business products and Epson is banking on the new high-end inkjet range, which offers a genuine alternative to traditional laser printers to drive sales this year.

Epson is a global imaging and innovation leader that is dedicated to exceeding the vision of customers worldwide through its compact, energy-saving, high-precision technologies, with a product line-up ranging from printers and 3LCD projectors for business and the home, to electronic and crystal devices.

According to Epson, there is a lot of business potential in Africa as the continent’s economies bounce back from the global financial down-turn. In markets such as Angola, business infrastructure is modernising rapidly and there is significant demand for POS hardware, presentation technology, business printing, banking technology, and for printing technology that can meet the precise needs of government printing.

Commenting on the choice of Kenya as a hub for East Africa, Mukesh said the country has evolved with excellent infrastructure and access to the rest of the markets in East Africa.

“The stable economic and political atmosphere is conducive for growth and the country is home to most of the International Embassies and foreign missions in the region. “Moreover, Kenya has been a trend-setter in our industry being the largest market in East Africa, and it is for these reasons we opted to establish in the near future the regional office located here,” he added.

The company also announced ambitious environmental vision that seeks to reduce carbon emissions by 90 percent across the lifecycle of all products and services by the year 2050. Epson is putting this into practice by helping customers to save materials, paper and energy.

“Meeting market needs for peace of mind, security, and ease of use, Epson is pursuing and perfecting its compact, recyclable, energy-saving, high-precision technologies to create and deliver new customer value. These technologies enable Epson to create innovative products that are increasingly precise, accurate, and compact and, moreover, that have a reduced environmental footprint,” said Mukesh

While reiterating the importance of environment conservation, Mukesh said the future of business was heavily pegged on environmental sustainability.

“That is why Epson strives to create innovative products that are reliable, and energy efficient - better products that use fewer resources help ensure a better future for us all,” he said.

To meet it ambitious business targets Epson will work together with customers, suppliers, NGOs, research institutes, governments and anyone else with ideas on how to achieve the goals.

By combining technological development with a shared sense of commitment and cooperation - from its worldwide suppliers, customers and various other stakeholders - Epson believes that it can make steady progress and achieve the goals of Environmental Vision 2050.

Notes to Editor

About Epson

Epson is a global imaging and innovation leader that is dedicated to exceeding the vision of customers worldwide through its compact, energy-saving, high-precisiontechnologies, with a product line-up ranging from printers and 3LCD projectors for business and the home, to electronic and crystal devices.

Led by the Japan-based Seiko Epson Corporation,the Epson Group comprises over 70,000 employees in 106 companies around the world, and is proud of its ongoing contributions to the global environment and the communities in which it operates. http://global.epson.com

About Epson Europe

Epson Europe B.V., based in Amsterdam, is the Group’s regional headquarters for Europe,

Middle-East, Russia, and Africa. With a workforce of 2,400 employees, Epson Europe’s sales for fiscal year 2009 were 1,875million Euros. http://www.epson-europe.com/

About Epson sub-Saharan Africa

Epson’s operations in sub-Saharan Africa were established in 1997 with headquarters based in Johannesburg, South Africa. Since then, Epson has established a panel of distributors and resellers throughout sub-Saharan Africa who are dedicated to serving Epson’s end-consumers with the highest quality products and levels of support. Epson now manages sales and support in 21 sub-Saharan African countries including South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Lesotho, Zambia, Malawi, Angola, Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Southern Sudan, Eritrea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
http://www.epson.eu/int/en/co.ke/

Environmental Vision 2050  
http://eco.epson.com/