HP today announced it has established operations in Ethiopia with the opening of an office in Addis Ababa and the appointment of Mesfin Makonnen as Country Manager.
Customers in Ethiopia will now have better access to HP’s broad portfolio of products and services, allowing them to transform their businesses by taking advantage of improved IT infrastructure and a future based cloud computing and connectivity services. Governments can leverage HP technology to drive economic growth and stability by modernizing the delivery of services in key areas such as education, healthcare and e-Government services. HP also intends to broaden access of its consumer printer and PCs in the country.
HP is proud to establish operations in Ethiopia at a time when we are fulfilling our potential as a high-growth economy,” said Mesfin Makonnen “Bringing HP’s cloud-based and connectivity technologies by to the Ethiopian government and local companies can help build a strong technology industry. In turn this generates economic growth and sees innovative solutions that can make a positive impact in Ethiopia.
Deputy Minister for MCIT said: “We welcome the direct presence of HP in Ethiopia. We look forward to working with HP to drive improvement of our public services, such as healthcare and education, through the use of information technologies”.
In addition to opening an office in Ethiopia, HP has invested in a series of initiatives here and across Africa aimed at enabling governments and communities to leverage information technology to achieve their socio-economic goals and contribute to responsible, sustainable market growth and development.
Collaboration with Addis Ababa University: Demonstrating a commitment to investing in Ethiopia’s future, HP and Addis Ababa University today signed a Memorandum of Understanding which will allow HP and the university help develop the next wave of technology experts necessary to ensure Ethiopia takes full advantage of the economic and social benefits technology can bring to local people, enterprises and government.
Under the agreement, HP and Addis Ababa University will create a program help students transition from a fresh graduate to a young IT professional. They will also collaborate to develop a Sales University for talented young people who are pursuing a career in the IT sector.
“Our new relationship with HP allows us to provide our best and brightest talent with job training and promising employment opportunities right here in Ethiopia”, said Dr Abiy Zegeye of Addis Ababa University.
Protecting customers and the local economy: HP’s anti-counterfeit program fights fake printer supplies worldwide, including in Ethiopia . HP will work with law enforcement authorities in Ethiopia 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 assisted authorities to seize over 30 million counterfeit products and components in the last four years, HP will share its experience of best practice from other countries to help law enforcement authorities to identify and seize counterfeit products, cut off routes of distribution and prosecute fraudsters, as well as actively educate its customers and partners to be vigilant against fake printing supplies.
Innovation in African Education: Last year HP created an Educational Experience Center for Africa in Casablanca, Morocco to showcase how the latest technology can be brought into learning to enhance the education experience. This facility is among the first of its kind in Africa and the only such HP facility in EMEA.
The centre 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 the African Education sector.
The opening of HP Ethiopia is part of the company’s strategy to increase access to technology and connectivity in Africa though the expansion of HP’s presence across the continent.
“HP is committed to investing for growth in Ethiopia,” commented Stefanos Giourelis, managing director, HP Africa. “With its expanding economy, forward-looking leadership, and rapidly modernizing industries, Ethiopia represents an important part of HP’s growth strategy and Africa’s promising future.”
With its entry into the Ethiopian market HP also launched the HP ProLiant Gen8 servers as a result of a $300 million, two-year program called Project Voyager, the company’s initiative to redefine data center economics by automating every aspect of the server life cycle.
With intelligent technologies that automate tasks and significantly improve uptime, HP ProLiant Gen 8 with HP ProActive Insight architecture addresses the top concerns of enterprises.
“The skyrocketing cost of operations in the data center is unsustainable, and enterprises are looking to HP to help solve this problem,” said Mesfin Makonnen Managing Director, HP Ethiopia. “We are delivering innovative intelligence technologies that enable servers to virtually take care of themselves, allowing data center staff to devote more time to business innovation.”
Source: Press Release sent to 2merkato.com by Saba Ermyas (PR/Media Cordinator) of 251 Communications, Mobile: +251913611096
