At a gala event at Langhams Lifestyle Estate in Johannesburg last night, Lenovo formally recognised its top business partners who have helped it achieve some of the most successful growth rates in the vendor’s EMEA region.

Graham Braum, GM of Lenovo Africa (and recently promoted to head up its mobile business in EMEA), paid tribute to the distributors and resellers in South Africa and the SADC territories that have been instrumental in seeing the company’s market share grow from 13,9% two years ago to 25,2% this fiscal year. And he’s confident that Lenovo’s partners will help it attain its goal of 30% of the market in the coming year.

“What we have achieved over the past two years is remarkable,” Braum told partners. “It is a great result – and it is all due to you. Our model relies on you, our business partners, 100%. We are a 100% channel company and we will invest more in you as we become, together, even more important in the next fiscal year.

“Yes, the market today is tough, but we have some exciting products coming down the line – and the data centre group is ready to fire,” Braum says. “It has some very ambitious goals this year – 2,5% quarter on quarter growth, with the ultimate aim of 25% market share. It’s not as easy a market as PCs, but we will invest in additional resources and orchestrate to make sure that we become a significant force in the private and public sector.”

On the night, Pinnacle took home four awards including the coveted Distributor of the Year and a Special Recognition award for Suria Pretorius as Brand Ambassador of the Year. In the SADC region, Mauritius-based Channel IT scooped two awards: Service Excellence in SADC Region and Best Commercial PC Business Partner in SADC. Makro was named as South African Retailer of the Year.

All the winners in the various categories were as follows:

Services Category

Authorised Warranty Provider of the Year – SA: TCM

Service Excellence – SADC: Channel IT (Mauritius)

Channel Category

Newcomer of the Year: 3DR

Premier Product Distributor of the Year: Pinnacle

Coastal Business Partner of the Year: Datacentrix

SADC Region Category

Commercial PC Business Partner of the Year: Channel IT (Mauritius)

Mobility Business Partner of the Year: Mishcon (Botswana)

In-Country Distributor of the Year: Elitus

Retailer of the Year: Furn Mart

Consumer Category

Premier Desktop Retailer of the Year: Makro

Premier Notebook Retailer of the Year: Incredible Connection

Retail Growth of the Year: CNA

Tablet Retail Partner of the Year: Incredible Connection

Enterprise Category

Enterprise Corporate Acquisition Partner of the Year: Digistore

Data Centre Group Distributor of the Year: First Distribution

Business Partner of the Year in Data Centre: TCM

Relationship Distributor of the Year: Tarsus Technologies

PCG and DCG Category

ThinkServer Distributor of the Year: Mustek

PC Group Business Partner of the Year: Rectron

Authorised Business Partner of the Year: Stortech

Premier Business Partner of the Year: Aptronics

Special Recognition Category

Brand Ambassador of the Year: Suria Pretorius (Pinnacle)

Relationship Business Partner of the Year: Nicky McGraw (Tarsus)

The Extra Mile Award: Mubeen Suleman (PartServe)

Best Revenue Growth Category

Biggest Revenue Growth Partner: Digistore

Best Revenue Distributor Southern Africa: Mustek

Transactional Distributor of the Year: Pinnacle

Overall Category

Distributor of the Year – SADC: Axiz

Retailer of the Year – South Africa: Makro

Gold Business Partner of the Year: First Technology

Distributor of the Year: Pinnacle

 

 

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