Feature
Despec
Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania where it has its own teams transacting business through the local channel. In addition, the distributor has also opened a free zone facility in Tanzania Dar-E-salaam, Tanzania, which will cater to the needs of the East & Central African markets. The free zone facility will drastically cut the lead time in getting the products to the local market and gives Despec a great advantage in the fast growing markets of Africa. The distributor also has local warehouses in Kenya, Tanzanina and Uganda. Faisal Jamal, COO at Despec says,
Faisal Jamal COO, Despec
has also expanded the products lines it offers to its partners in Africa. He adds, “We have opened up new product lines in East Africa. We are not only into the distribution of printer supplies but have added Norton and the entire product lines of HP IPG. The supplies business itself has grown significantly not just in East Africa but across all territories.” Despec wants to ensure that its diversification strategy for faster growth does not come at the expense of its current businesses. The company
Strategic expansions Despec has in recent years expanded its business into the emerging markets of Africa and simultaneously consolidated its operations in the Middle East.
While Despec started as a distributor of Office supplies and is a leading name in the printer consumables business, in the past several years, Despec has successfully diversified its product portfolio to include additional product categories like printers, accessories etc. In addition to these strategic extensions, the company has embarked on territorial expansion into African growth markets like Kenya, Tanzania or Uganda that underline the ambitions of the company to consoldiate its role in the region’s distribution business. The company has several success stories to talk of in terms of in-country expansion. Some of these markets include KSA, Kuwait, Jordan, Lebanon, Kuwait in the Middle East with the region continue to contribute the majority of its revenues. In Africa, the major countries of focus have been
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The Integrator | May 2012
“By stocking products closer to these markets, we are offering our partners an unprecedented advantage that was missing so far in those markets because of the absence of a regional hub. We have made significant investments in local operations in these markets. This is also in line with our commitment to the fast growing markets of Africa where we are seeing our volumes growing faster than our expectations.” Further, the company is looking at more expansion initiatives in the African continent. Next on the radar are opening subsidiaries in Mozambique, Rwanda and Ethiopia. The company’s enterprising team is participating in several trade shows in some of the interior markets and in the process tapping new partner prospects in markets that are expected to soon grow at a good pace. The distributor
continues to see itself as a Supplies specialist that offers the complete range of brands with HP being the leading brand. Despec is also very careful that it doesn’t add products and brands without ascertaining the value proposition. These decisions are based on whether the product is a natural extension for its portfolio as well as how easy is it for its partners to sell.As Faisal points out, the company is doing what it can to ensure that its partners are profitable in doing business with them and that they are seeing a stable and growing partnership with Despec. Through its ambitious initiatives in the emerging markets of Africa as well, Despec has ensured that it is ready to walk the talk when it comes to pioneering market expansion for brands it carries.