Ricoh SA has appointed Dinesh Desai as its business development manager – Africa, Indirect Operations.
Desai has 12 years of experience in the industry and most recently developed consumables and toner business in several African countries that resulted in sales exceeding 50 tons of toner per month in Nigeria alone.
“The potential to do business in Africa is already enormous and it’s still growing,” he says. “Consumables and toners is a large market but bringing the full bouquet of Ricoh’s corporate solution offering, from production print to managed document solutions, managed print services, and communication services, expands the opportunity exponentially.”
He says global trends impact local conditions and opportunities, such as in Angola where around 50% of the country’s GDP is derived from oil exports, even though the country has strong exports in other industries, and the recent dip in the oil price has impacted the appetite of company’s operating there.
“Dinesh understands the intricacies of each market where we operate and where we will expand into,” says Jacques van Wyk, chief operating office of Ricoh SA. “He has extensive experience building partnerships that make a difference and as a result has innumerable contacts in many countries that represent favourable growth potential for Ricoh SA.”
Ricoh SA is exploring several business partnership opportunities with distributors and resellers in key African markets such as Angola, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania and others.
Ricoh will offer its services-led solutions, including managed document services, business process services, communications services, and production print services, as well as its extensive product portfolio. The business has specific expertise in the legal, financial services, healthcare, and education sectors and brings them four chief benefits: agility, mobility, productivity, and technology for profitability. It does so through document management expertise, document process innovation, expertise in production printing, commitment to a sustainable future, and helps businesses be ready for the future with innovative technologies and solutions that focus on the workplace reimagined.
“We want to build business models with each partner that are viable for the local market conditions where we need to have our finger on the pulse of the needs, demands, and desires of local businesses,” says Desai. “Just in printing the various markets have different needs such as a majority of monochrome East Africa and a lot more colour in West Africa. Everyone needs solid pre- and post-sales service in the form of technical expertise and consumables.”
Ricoh SA has the necessary expertise and facilities to complete certified training and marketing co-operation with business partners across Africa and has recently flexed this resource to successfully embrace a partnership with Rectron, part of JSE-listed Mustek, in South Africa.
