The American brand APC has deployed two of its management staff to Ethiopia in a effort to investigate the alleged prevalence of counterfeit UPS products.
Fake products are damaging to the image of the company said Christian Bertrand, Vice President for Africa and the Middle East with APC.
The company plans to deal with the challenge of counterfeiting through enlarging its product channel so that consumers can access a reliable source of the genuine APC product thereby eliminating counterfeit suppliers from the market and through enacting legal measures according to Bertrand.
APC is also planning to establish authorized dealers on the basis of their technical and commercial capabilities and will offer trainings from those who meet the selection criteria at the APC training facility in Dubai he said.The company does not tackle counterfeits on the basis of prices as it offers top quality products with a full package deal and believes that it is better to purchase quality at higher prices with guaranteed long term service then to buy low quality, cheap knock offs that require regular reinvestment according to Thierry Chamayou, Business Development Director at APC Office for Middle East and Africa.
APC currently has one partner and three distributors in Ethiopia and is expected to increase these numbers in its bid to counter counterfeiters.
APC (The American Power Conversion) was incorporated in 1981 founded by three electronic power engineers from MIT. The company has introduced more than 155 new products including Power Chute software which significantly changed the means for power management.
Source: Capital
