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Johannesburg - Enterprise software and services leader SAP would invest $500m in Africa, as it embarked on a seven-year plan to up-skill African talent and drive sustainable innovation and growth on the continent, it announced on Tuesday.
The goal was to establish the African region as one of the company’s top-five growth markets globally. Much of the direct investment would be outside South Africa, where SAP already has a solid footprint.
“The African market is unique in its growth potential and readiness to innovate,” said Robert Enslin, member of the Executive Board of SAP SE and president of Global Customer Operations. “The SAP Executive Board strongly believes that now is the right time to take our engagement and commitment to expand in Africa to the next level.”
Helping the world run better
With over 1 300 customers across the continent, SAP Africa is now taking responsibility for operations across 51 African countries, including Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia and Mauritania.
“SAP's additional investment in the continent reflects SAP’s vision to help the world run better by delivering leading-edge innovation,” he said. “In Africa, we plan to engage and invest in even more markets while helping build the appropriate talent base for the IT industry, and support our customers and partners by actively contributing toward crucial technology and business skills-sets and new employment opportunities in Africa.”
“SAP Africa has more than 20 years of experience successfully operating on the continent,” said SAP Africa CEO Pfungwa Serima. “SAP Africa is leveraging its established presence and valued ecosystem relationships to immediately commence execution of this plan across the four key pillars that we believe will drive the greatest growth and impact for the continent.”
10 000 IT leaders to be trained
SAP would upskill next generation IT leaders and professionals by training up to 10 000 consultants by 2020 in collaboration with government and universities.
The SAP Africa growth plan was built on accelerating industry growth in energy, promoting innovation by speeding up the roll-out of core innovative SAP technology solutions, enhancing the growth of SMEs and building foundational growth and skill development with the launch of additional Skills for Africa Scholarship Programme.
“Innovative technologies such as mobility and the cloud are among the fastest growing IT segments and are already having a significant impact on businesses’ ability to grow and innovate,” said Mark Walker, director of Insights and Vertical Industries at IDC Middle East, Africa and Turkey.
“We are facing a major turning point where we either embrace the cutting-edge or remain rooted in the past. Solid, forward-looking investment plans will not only dramatically strengthen Africa’s ICT landscape, but also its ability to compete on a global scale.”
-Fin24.
The goal was to establish the African region as one of the company’s top-five growth markets globally. Much of the direct investment would be outside South Africa, where SAP already has a solid footprint.
“The African market is unique in its growth potential and readiness to innovate,” said Robert Enslin, member of the Executive Board of SAP SE and president of Global Customer Operations. “The SAP Executive Board strongly believes that now is the right time to take our engagement and commitment to expand in Africa to the next level.”
Helping the world run better
With over 1 300 customers across the continent, SAP Africa is now taking responsibility for operations across 51 African countries, including Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia and Mauritania.
“SAP's additional investment in the continent reflects SAP’s vision to help the world run better by delivering leading-edge innovation,” he said. “In Africa, we plan to engage and invest in even more markets while helping build the appropriate talent base for the IT industry, and support our customers and partners by actively contributing toward crucial technology and business skills-sets and new employment opportunities in Africa.”
“SAP Africa has more than 20 years of experience successfully operating on the continent,” said SAP Africa CEO Pfungwa Serima. “SAP Africa is leveraging its established presence and valued ecosystem relationships to immediately commence execution of this plan across the four key pillars that we believe will drive the greatest growth and impact for the continent.”
10 000 IT leaders to be trained
SAP would upskill next generation IT leaders and professionals by training up to 10 000 consultants by 2020 in collaboration with government and universities.
The SAP Africa growth plan was built on accelerating industry growth in energy, promoting innovation by speeding up the roll-out of core innovative SAP technology solutions, enhancing the growth of SMEs and building foundational growth and skill development with the launch of additional Skills for Africa Scholarship Programme.
“Innovative technologies such as mobility and the cloud are among the fastest growing IT segments and are already having a significant impact on businesses’ ability to grow and innovate,” said Mark Walker, director of Insights and Vertical Industries at IDC Middle East, Africa and Turkey.
“We are facing a major turning point where we either embrace the cutting-edge or remain rooted in the past. Solid, forward-looking investment plans will not only dramatically strengthen Africa’s ICT landscape, but also its ability to compete on a global scale.”
-Fin24.
