Canon Central and North Africa strengthens regional presence with Annual Partner Conference in Kenya

Canon Central and North Africa (CCNA), highlighted its commitment to the region and strengthened its presence by hosting the Annual Partner Conference in Nairobi, Kenya, which brought together more than 100 partners from 44 countries in Africa.

A significant event that further underlines Canon’s focus on being closer to its customer and strengthening its regional presence, the three-day Annual Partner Conference served as a key platform for the company to highlight its achievements in 2016 and to outline the strategic growth priorities and opportunities in 2017.

Roman Troedthandl, Managing Director of CCNA, said: “The Annual Partner Conference is a flagship event by Canon that aims to discuss business growth opportunities and strengthen our association with our partners, who contribute significantly to our success.  Africa region is of strategic importance to us, and with the support of our partners, we have been able to make strong inroads in building our market share.

“This year has been eventful for us as we expanded our presence through several local initiatives, and we aim to take our growth to the next level in 2017 through innovative new approaches. Across all our initiatives, our goal is to create value for our partners and deliver the highest level of product and service excellence to our customers.”

At the Conference, Roman Troedthandl explained the path-breaking initiatives by Canon in the region including its collaboration with partners in Morocco,  Tunisia, and Nigeria to open three new showrooms in these countries and the launch of Canon direct presence in Nigeria market by opening new office. This reflects Canon’s emphasis on being closer to customers and providing on-ground support to them. The expansion also complements Canon’s sustainability programme Miraisha, which has been inspired by the company’s corporate philosophy that embodies the ideaof living and working together for the common good.

Canon participated in a number of award ceremonies this year including its collaboration with Kenya Fashion Awards to help recognise the most talented personalities in the fashion industry in Kenya, and the Uganda Press Photo Awards for which CCNA joined hands with Uganda Press Photo to extend support to African talent, enhance their skills, share knowledge on advanced photography solutions, and celebrate excellence in photography.

CCNA signed three key partnership agreements this year with Invest in Africa, National Film and TV Institute in Ghana (NAFTI) and Kenyatta University in Kenya to train and mentor small and medium (SME) sized printing companies and strengthen the knowledge and skills levels in film and photography in Ghana, Nigeria, and Kenya, with the goal of creating new and rewarding career opportunities for young professionals.

Roman Troedthandl added: “With our corporate philosophy of `Kyosei`, meaning ‘living and working together for the common good,’ we will look to maintain our growth and prosperity in the region through new business initiatives while also promoting our CSR activities. We have set ambitious goals for the African region with the aim of growing our market share in Nigeria, Ethiopia, Senegal, Ivory Coast & Ghana, and further enhancing our presence in Egypt, Kenya and Uganda. One of the key objectives for 2017 will be to maximise our growth in all the countries which we believe have a high potential.”

Other upcoming regional activities for CCNA include the Lagos International Trade Fair to be held in Nigeria from Nov. 4 to 13; the Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF) from Nov. 13 to 20; as well as the Dealer Seminar in Ghana in December.

Canon also plans to open new B2B showrooms such as the MFI Customer experience Centre in Kenya, the Japan Motors showroom in Ghana, and the Jamaica Trading showroom in Nigeria. Other showrooms to be launched later this month are Semelic in Algeria, KPS in Egypt, Arkeos in Algeria, MFI in Uganda and Tanzania and Devea Group in Senegal.

CCNA will continue to build on the momentum through its objectives set for 2017 including growing and enhancing the market through market assessment with a key focus on new partner development, in addition to channel expansion and adding market value. The company’s plan and strategies for the next year also include maintaining its market share by providing a full range of products and managing them by using its overall business operations.