PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--HP (NYSE:HPQ) today announced it has expanded its operations in Africa by establishing new entities in 10 of the continent’s fast-growing economies.
By extending access to its portfolio of hardware, software and services across Africa, HP will enable governments, businesses and consumers there to use information technologies to improve how they work and live.
This month, HP announced openings in Angola, Botswana, Congo, Ghana, Senegal, Tanzania and Uganda. The company expects to announce the opening of offices in Ethiopia, Mauritius and Mozambique by the end of the year. HP also appointed a new country manager in each country to lead local operations.
The expansion is part of HP’s recently announced strategy for accelerating growth in the world’s fastest-growing markets by creating specialized go-to-market strategies, technology solutions, and customer, partner and public sector relationships that meet the unique needs of rapidly developing markets. The new African offices add to HP’s existing operations in Algeria, Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, South Africa and Tunisia. HP first opened operations in Africa in 1994.
Business customers across Africa will now have better access to HP’s broad portfolio of products and services, allowing them to transform their businesses through the implementation of secure, cloud-based systems. Governments can use HP technology to drive economic growth by modernizing the delivery of services in key areas such as education, healthcare and e-Government services. HP also intends to broaden access to its consumer printers and PCs in these markets.
“HP’s expansion in Africa will support the development of a strong information technology industry, which will underpin sustainable economic growth, helping to create employment, stability and life-changing opportunities across the continent,” said Brian Humphries, senior vice president, Growth Markets Organization, HP. “HP’s unmatched portfolio of products and services positions it to become the leading IT provider in Africa and an important contributor to the growth in this region.”
Recognizing the importance of engaging multiple stakeholders to contribute to the long-term success of Africa’s IT industry, HP is investing in a series of collaborations and initiatives with governments, universities and local communities to achieve the shared goal of driving responsible, sustainable growth.
Collaboration with universities
HP has signed Memorandums of Understanding with leading universities in the expansion countries, aimed at preparing local university students with the skills and experience required for a career in the IT industry. The agreements call for the creation of HP internships and post-graduate job opportunities for university students, and the creation of curricula to educate students about HP solutions and sales techniques.
The collaboration between HP and Africa’s top universities is designed to foster the development of a local workforce that has the right skills to lead Africa’s burgeoning IT industry in the future.
Innovation in African education
HP has created an Educational Experience Center for Africa in Casablanca, Morocco, to showcase how the latest technology can enhance the education experience. This facility is among the first of its kind in Africa, and the only such HP facility in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region.
The center is open for government officials, educators and students of any level from across Africa to see firsthand how technology can support and improve teaching methods and enhance interactive learning to boost the productivity of Africa’s education sector. The inauguration of the center is scheduled for next month.
Extending social innovation programs
HP has built on its social innovation strategy in Africa, which seeks to deploy cloud-based and mobile technologies through collaboration with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to reduce poverty, improve healthcare, and connect disparate communities and groups. The strategy has already supported significant work in Africa, such as a relationship with the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) to improve infant HIV testing in Kenya, and a collaboration with mothers2mothers in support of its mission of preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV.
HP is extending NGO relationships in five of the countries where new offices have opened:
- In Botswana, HP is collaborating with Positive Innovation for the Next Generation and CHAI to expand the malaria pilot disease surveillance program to other infectious diseases as designated by the Ministry of Health. The program, first introduced in June 2011, mitigates disease outbreaks through a mobile/cloud disease surveillance solution.
- In Senegal, HP and Tostan are deploying a technology platform to help bring education to adults and adolescents who are without access to formal schooling.
- In Uganda, HP is working with CHAI to expand the HIV Early Infant Diagnosis Program, which was first launched in Kenya in November 2010.
- In Tanzania, HP is working with SafePoint Trust to implement a safe injections program and monitor results
- In Mozambique, HP and Mozambique Development in Motion are establishing a computer lab in a rural secondary school.
- In Ghana, HP and mPedigree have deployed a drug authentication system that allows consumers to verify that medications they purchase are not counterfeit.
More information about HP’s Social Innovation projects can be found at www.hp.com/go/social-innovation.
Protecting consumers and the local economy
HP is extending its program to fight counterfeit products to the 10 expansion countries. The company will work with local law enforcement authorities to fight the availability of counterfeit products, which defraud customers, pose potential risks to consumers and bring negative economic impacts to the local economy.
Having already assisted authorities in seizing more than 30 million counterfeit products and components worldwide in the last four years, HP has recently supported seizures of counterfeit products in Ghana, South Africa and Tanzania. HP will share its best practices to help law enforcement authorities identify and seize counterfeit products, cut off routes of distribution and prosecute fraudsters. HP also will actively educate its customers and partners to be vigilant against fake printing supplies.
Developing sustainable e-waste systems
The lack of an overall sustainable e-waste management infrastructure in most African countries means that unsafe dismantling and recycling of used equipment pose serious threats to workers’ health and the environment. As part of HP’s commitment to a responsible, sustainable growth strategy in Africa, the company will continue to drive programs to address this issue in a manner that attends to local conditions and provides jobs and training while ensuring high environmental and health and safety standards are met.
In the first half of 2011, HP and Carmara Education opened the East African Computer Recycling (EACR) in Kenya, the first IT e-waste recycling facility on the continent outside of South Africa.
HP’s strategy for e-waste in Africa also includes programs such as educating workers handling waste electronic equipment in Nigeria, supporting feasibility studies to define local recycling schemes in Morocco, and contributing to the development of the South African e-waste recycling industry through the deployment of globally accepted standards. HP has provided free IT hardware recycling for customers in South Africa since 2008 and this year the service was introduced in Kenya.
About HP
HP creates new possibilities for technology to have a meaningful impact on people, businesses, governments and society. The world’s largest technology company, HP brings together a portfolio that spans printing, personal computing, software, services and IT infrastructure at the convergence of the cloud and connectivity, creating seamless, secure, context-aware experiences for a connected world. More information about HP is available at http://www.hp.com.
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