The
Vice-President, Tecno Mobile, Mr. Arif Chowdury, tells DAYO OKETOLA
that his company hopes to set up a mobile device manufacturing plant in
Nigeria by 2014, but insists that only adequate infrastructure will make
this possible
The general perception is that the Tecno phones available in Nigeria are substandard. Actually,
anybody who says Tecno phones are substandard must have bought fake
ones. This is because grey phones branded as Tecno now abound in the
market. The Standards Organisation of Nigeria has recently confirmed
that there are some fake Tecno phones without the SON certification in
the market, but we are all working to stamp them out of the market.
However,
if you buy a genuine Tecno phone, you will know it is genuine because
it will last like any other genuine phone in the market. This is because
the components of Tecno devices are sourced from the same source as
other phone makers such as Samsung and Nokia. This means that the
supplies are the same, just that the products have different names when
they are coupled together. If you look at the Tecno products in Nigeria
and other countries, you will realise that from the very beginning, we
have tried to emphasise on the quality of our products, as well as
research and development.
Second,
Nigeria has a vast market for our products and our plan for the market
is long term. You must therefore understand that if an investor wants to
stay for a long time in any market, he cannot be selling substandard
products. The investor must endeavour to offer customers genuine
products; if not, it will lose the market. In other words, if the
investor does not plan to make quick money and walk away, he must ensure
that the quality and standard of his products remain the main point of
reference, and that is what Tecno Mobile stands for.
If
you feel so strongly about the Nigerian market, does that mean you are
planning to set up a manufacturing plant in the country?
Well,
we have actually set up a plant in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and we have
almost completed plans to set up another one in Lagos or anywhere else
in Nigeria. That will be done as soon as we conclude the process with
the government of Nigeria. I must say that it is very important for us
to set up a plant in the Nigerian market, because of the huge potentials
inherent in the market. I can give an assurance Nigerians that Tecno
will do everything to keep the patronage we have today, and more.
Most
investors usually dodge questions about setting up a plant in Nigeria.
What assurance are you giving Nigerians that you will set up the plant?
Actually,
for us at Tecno, setting up plants across different countries is no
issue, especially when we see a vast market. I already told you that we
have set up one in Ethiopia and for the Nigerian market, especially with
the way the mobile industry is changing very fast, we will leverage on
that boom to set up soonest in Nigeria. When I say soon, we are looking
towards 2014, which means that we will start manufacturing mobile
devices in the country by then while boosting local content development.
What do you think the government should do to make your plan of setting up a manufacturing plant in Nigeria a reality?
Well,
the government can help us by ensuring that some of the factors they
set for us as a company are followed through, so that our products will
not be copied. If we can remove the fake products from the market, am
sure that more prestige will be accorded our products. Also, the issue
of infrastructure should be handled by the government to encourage more
investors. Power supply is another big issue in Nigeria and for us to
set up a plant, the government must ensure that power supply is stable,
but if this does not happen, running a manufacturing plant will be
costly.
Recently,
the Nigerian Communications Commission shut down your office in Lagos
for selling phones that were not type-approved. Have you type-approved
all phone models in the market now?
Yes,
I must say that all our phones are now type-approved. But let me
explain that at that point in time, there was a little communication gap
between the NCC and the Tecno management due to the distance of the two
offices in Lagos and Abuja. At that time, our file from Lagos was still
making its way to Abuja when the NCC stormed our office here. But that
misunderstanding has been sorted out, and we have also type-approved all
our phones, including the latest Tecno phone, which was just
introduced to the Nigerian market, the Tecno N3. What we usually do now
is that even before we unveil a model into the market, we send all the
documents and a few of the phones to the NCC to get their approval and
immediately we get the approval, the phones are introduced into the
market.
In the nearest future, even as everything is going mobile, does Tecno have plans to introduce a Tecno tablet?
Yes, we are actually working on the Tecno tablet, which should be unveiled in February 2013.
What company do you consider your greatest competitor in the Nigerian market?
We
are not saying we are better than anyone, and neither are we saying
Tecno Mobile is the worst. What we are saying is that we want to be
ourselves because we have something very unique. We are also ready to do
what the Nigerian market wants because this market is at the heart of
Tecno brand.
Can you explain the details of the partnership you have with Airtel Nigeria?
We
have had a relationship with Airtel for a long time now, and it is only
important that we seal our relationship with the Tecno N3 partnership.
As a result of our desire to give Nigerians a smartphone that is smarter
than smart, we have had to leverage on our relationship to create a
partnership with Airtel with its 3.75 network. With the inauguration of
the phone, however, we are giving our customers free Airtel SIM cards,
as well as free data at the point of purchase for the next six months.
What is Tecno Mobile doing in the area of Corporate Social Responsibility in Nigeria?
Well,
we work with some non-governmental organisations in order to give back
to the society. We also do a lot of other activities, but we don’t like
blowing our trumpet at Tecno Mobile. Also, as we look forward to
establishing our plant in Nigeria, we will work in a bigger way to help
out and say thank you to our customers.
What are your greatest challenges in Nigeria?
Our
greatest challenge with the Nigerian market, if I must say, is the pace
at which the market is growing, which is too fast. Nigerian youths are
one of a kind, very smart, and intelligent set of people, and we have to
work our heads out in order to produce devices that they will find
attractive enough to use. If we can just match with that pace, we can
win everything. The market is always changing, thus we must endeavour to
change with the market.
A
Tecno mobile phone is generally cheaper than most of the other phones.
Is your pricing strategy deliberate, or are the prices actually the
worth of those phones?
From
our side, what we try to do is that before we introduce a particular
product, we do a market survey and talk to distributors, dealers,
marketers and even customers to find out what features and price points
they are looking for in a phone. The essence of this is to ensure that
the price of the product falls within the range acceptable to our
customers. With that, we gain our customers’ confidence and trust by
making our products affordable.
Punch Nigeria
