Nigerian financial services sector
It is potentially a huge market for us. It requires a very specific form factor, a very specific functionality in mobile devices. The biggest being that if we supply mobile devices in the financial services market where there is financial transactions, then the devices have to be E and V certified or certified by the credit card companies and the security system on device itself and the network that carries the data have to be very formula.
It is potentially a huge market, but there tends to be oneoffs, very special project like we see in East Africa, especially with impairs system and the enlargement of electronic system using mobile devices. So, we have in effect specific products to start to address that market. The big issue in market lapses is the regulatory environment in banking system. For example in South Africa, with a highly formal banking infrastructure, it is not that easy to replace transaction that has been used in a specific way for many ways with something new because, obviously the banking system relies very much on transaction fees and profit generated, so this is seen as a big distracter to banks.
However, I think the banks are trying to see that people are having smart phones and cell phones, and industry devices transacting through their channels. So, they now start coming to the fore and accepting they are going to be part of this. Responding to how do they participate, how do they provide in a compliance and acceptance of movement of data from mobile device to the formal banking system, it is a big market for us.
Provisions for SMEs
We have various places we sell our products, which is the big multinationals and the big manufacturing companies. But we also see small businesses that are part of our supply chains of large organisations that have to comply with the product. For example, in a retail supply chain small businesses supply products to retailers, they have to put a bracket on it. Simply by putting bracket on your product, you are already providing a way for everyone in the supply chain to track the progress of the product and share the common information about whether there is and where it is coming from, and may be to take it to shops for emergency purposes. But we find farmers, electrician and doctors, all looking for mobile phones and applications on them to help them interact with more customers.
Sector of the economy your products are most needed
Food manufacturing or what we call Consumer Product Good (CPG): it’s our biggest target market at the moment. It is an interesting market because as food manufacturing starts to expand their product, talking about companies like Coca Cola, Nestle, then you start to see the interest of retailers to start opening up more retail outlets. This is because I cannot get a product in the shop faster and I do not have to maintain large supply chain in Italy or the UK, or rather holding out South Africa for organisations like Shoprite for example, as you see here. Retail happens to be a very significant target market for us in South Africa. For example, it accounts for 30 percent of our business. We are able to sell our scanners, wireless networks, the control movement of products in stores, and retailers interact with customers as well as our mobile devises free from goods receiving point to stores, to processes, to devices that allow retailers interact with customers.
Banking sector
The financial services business is a very unique market for our perspective. It is a highly regulated market. We are constrained by the regulatory and security issues. We have significant installations in banks in terms of electronic payment. We are seeing a lot of potential business, but it is a very regulated conservative slow-moving market. It is a tough one.
Motorola solutions
Motorola solutions is a global organisation. We operate in countries where we see an opportunity and where the market demands our products. So, we have a big market depicted in the US, North America, the UK, and a very big market for us in Europe and Asian Pacific.
One of the main business drive is the prompt sales to expand our market geographically into Africa and parts of Africa where we have previously addressed. We want to see how we will geographically expand our business. It is clear Nigeria is growing and we want to be part of that growth, not only in Nigeria but also in Angola, Kenya and Tanzania, with a very high growth rate, we want to be there. But as global company we need to be at the point where our consumer products are expected to be serviced, and parts are expected to be marketed.
Commitment in Nigeria
Motorola is an enabler of a business ecosystem. Our products are channels, distributors and general partners. So, we provide an environment to grow business in all the products. A lot of the obvious investment happens to our distributors. We say lets stop putting more people but lets put logistics and control system in place, start investing with us. In the background where we are investing, we always put our people on the ground and to ensure that one thing we never do is that we never lose sight of our customers.
