JOHANNESBURG, (CAJ News) – SAP Africa, the market leader in enterprise application software, has announced its expansion to Angola with the opening of an office in Luanda.
It the company’s fifth regional hub in the continent.
Regional head, Pedro Guerreiro, who is the Managing Director for Portuguese-speaking Africa, heads the office located in the Edificio Escom business district.
Guerreiro, who has been with SAP in various capacities for over 17 years, was Senior Director of Services – Strategic Sales for SAP in the United States prior to this role, also currently holds the position of Head of Energy and Natural Resource Industries at SAP Africa.
Executives said SAP’s investment in the largest city in Angola affirms the company’s commitment to strengthening relationships with government, customers and business partners, and expanding operations throughout
Portuguese-speaking Africa.
SAP has had an active presence in Angola since 1998 with its first customer being oil conglomerate, Sonangol.
The company now has more than 55 customers in the country across a variety of industries, as well as 13 accredited partners. The SAP footprint in Mozambique is similarly gaining momentum with 28 key customers and seven
partners at this time.
“SAP is proud to be bolstering its existing collaborative partnerships with forward-thinking businesses of all sizes and with government to contribute towards driving forward Portuguese-speaking Africa’s innovation agenda,” commented Brett Parker, MD SAP Africa.
He said despite the challenging economic environment at present, this was the perfect time to lay the technology foundation that would put enhance businesses and government operations. “SAP is very optimistic about prospects in this region and looks forward to expanding our presence in the years to come.”
Meanwhile, as part of this commitment and underpinning SAP Africa’s investment in African skills development, the company also announced that the SAP Skills for Africa initiative will be launched in Angola in June 2016. SAP Skills for Africa is SAP Africa’s skills development and job creation initiative aimed at developing ICT and business skills in
strategic locations.
With growth and the scarcity of skills on the African continent top of mind, this programme – a first of its kind in the industry in Africa – offers selected students the opportunity to develop world-class skills, effectively giving them an opportunity to play a role in contributing towards Africa’s future economic growth and infrastructure development.
After having completed the training, successful students go on to internships with SAP customers and partners.
Discussions are underway with Angolan customers, partners and academic institutions to explore ways in which effective collaboration can be achieved.
Ricardo Gerigk, Delegate for German Economy in Angola, hailed the presence of companies from his country.
There are now approximately 20 significant German companies successfully doing business in Angola.
“We applaud SAP’s deepened commitment to the region,” said Gerigk.
He said such companies had the German quality philosophy alongside an investment in human resources through vocational training with the goal to quickly replace foreign with local labour.
“This happens in all countries where German companies have settled, generating new jobs and ultimately boosting the national economy,” said Gerigk.
SAP has been operating in Africa since 1982, and has more than 1300 customers across the continent and presence in 51 countries.
– CAJ News
