Lenovo Group announces plans for expansion in West Africa in 2014

Lenovo Group Ltd officially announced that it plans to expand its smartphone business in three countries in West Africa in 2014, betting on increasing demand in Nigeria.

In an interview on February 4th, Graham Braum, Lenovos General Manager for Africa, said that the company, which is currently considered as the largest personal computers manufacturer in the world, will start selling data-enabled phones models, including the Vibe X and S930 in Nigeria in the first week of March. Mr. Braum also announced that the company is considering to start selling its products in Ghana and Ivory Coast later in 2014.

Mr. Braum said: “Smartphones are fast becoming a primary platform for work, entertainment and social networking in Nigeria”. He also explained that the country is the next big market for the company thanks to the fact there live more than 170 million people. As reported by Bloomberg, Mr. Braum said that Lenovo is following a “successful” entrance in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

In January it became clear that Lenovo is buying Google Inc.s Motorola Mobility phone unit in a 2.91-billion-dollar deal. The acquisition led to the creation of the worlds third-biggest smartphone vendor after Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. Graham Braum said that Lenovo Group is currently evaluating the opportunities provided by Ghana and Ivory Coast and has not set a certain period of time when it is expected to start selling its phones there.

Mr. Braum said in an interview cited by Bloomberg: “We have a road map in 2014 to move into countries like Ghana and Ivory Coast and in order to do that we are doing a lot of investigation in the background.” He also explained that the company seeks to add more countries in the region in 2015.

According to data by the Nigerian Communications Commission, there were 156 million mobile-phone subscribers in the country as of October 2013. The research company Informa Telecoms & Media reported that the numbers are likely to grow to more than 200 million in 2017 as many subscribers own more than one phone.

According to Lenovos Braum, the company is certain that its phone brands will be accepted by the customers in the same way the companys PCs were. He reminded that Lenovos PC unit in the region owns a 14% market share.

“We want to be one of the five top players within the next 12 months,” Mr. Braum said. “While the PC market still represents a $200 billion opportunity and offers substantial opportunity for profitable growth, most of the new growth will be in the PC Plus market, which includes tablets and smartphones.”

Lenovo Group Ltds shares rose by 2.38% on Monday in Hong Kong to settle at HK$8.62, trimming this years decline to 8.6%.