Sony turns to Rwanda as its Africa market expands

Local musician Richard Muragijimana spent a few minutes last Thursday at a small Sony shop in Kigali checking different video cameras. Unfortunately, he did not buy one of them as he couldn’t afford the high prices. He was heard telling friends that he would work harder to raise enough money to buy one of the cameras.Muragijimana, 21, would like to set up a music recording studio in Kigali. He has already bought the audio recording equipment and believes that owning a video camera would boost his business.It is people like Muragijimana that global consumer electronics and entertainment brand, Sony Corporation, is targeting in a plan it announced on May 10 in Cape Town, South Africa. The plan seeks to expand the electronics firm’s business on the continent. The top audio products firm in Africa, which commands a 40 per cent market share, is conducting more aggressive and product launches to boost its presence on the continent. It has opened several Sony stores and set up extensive after-sales services across Africa.Hiroyasu Sugiyama, the Sony managing director for the Middle East and Africa, told reporters and businesses at the launch of the expansion plan that “Africa is undoubtedly one of the most important markets for Sony.”The company aims to achieve a $1.4b share in the consumer electronics industry on the continent by 2015, including the fast-growing mobile phone business. “The numbers certainly look exciting, but our immediate focus is to identify tactics that will help us move towards our target. The Sony roadmap for Africa constitutes a four-pillared strategy based on ‘product’, ‘customer’, ‘community’ and ‘operation’,” Sugiyama said.Thanks to such approaches, the recently-opened Sony shop in Kigali allowed Muragijiman to, at least, see and examine the product he needs and how much it will cost him.Sony plans to establish new zonal offices in Morocco, Ghana, Nigeria and Angola, where it will train and employ local people and identify new business partners to compliment its growth strategy in Africa, Sugiyama revealed. It also plans to expand its after-sales service by increasing its service centres from the current number of 67 to 87 by March next year. The company’s major competitors on the continent include Canada-based BlackBerry (mobile phones) and South Korea-based Samsung Electronics (TV screens), while competitors in the computer business are many, Sugiyama revealed in an interview with Business Times.He said his company had to “run as fast as Africa runs” as he described how the middle income segment on the continent was growing very fast and how Sony has to seize the opportunity.“The environment in Africa is ready for business... people are becoming more educated and exposed to the outside world, and they are richer,” he noted.At the launch of its Africa expansion plan in Cape Town, Sony showcased a range of its most recent electronics devises. They include the Sony Xperia Z smartphone, the XPERIA tablet and the BRAVIA 4K TVs, as well as its most powerful audio system, the Shake 7 stereo. The company has promised to reduce the wait-time and increase the availability of its products for African consumers.