SAP has unveiled a far-reaching, seven-year strategy aimed at boosting the skills of local African talent, fostering sustainable growth, and spurring innovation across the continent. SAP, a company that already supports over 1,300 customers throughout Africa, is keen on empowering African businesses and governments to grow, scale, and go global. As part of this endeavor, SAP Africa is now overseeing SAP operations in 51 African nations, including Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Mauritania.
SAP’s goal, besides supporting a better-functioning Africa for the benefit of its people, is to invest as much as US $500 million by 2020. This planned investment, aimed at building on the region’s impressive double-digit growth rate, aims to make Africa one of SAP’s top five growth markets worldwide. Most of the direct investment will be deployed outside South Africa, where SAP already has established significant operations.
The investment plan was shared at a press briefing, hosted by Robert Enslin, a member of SAP’s Executive Board and president of Global Customer Operations, and Pfungwa Serima, the CEO of SAP Africa.
Enslin noted that the African market offers unparalleled growth potential and readiness to innovate. He added that SAP’s additional investment underscores the company’s mission to assist the world by providing innovative, cutting-edge technology. He further highlighted that SAP intends to deepen its engagement in more African markets, bolster talent pools in the IT industry, and facilitate the creation of new employment opportunities.
According to Serima, SAP Africa possesses a wealth of experience, having successfully operated on the continent for more than two decades. He adds that SAP Africa will use its presence and beneficial ecosystem relationships to execute the plan across four strategic pillars identified to drive maximum growth and impact.
The strategic pillars in the SAP Africa growth plan consist of:
Boosting industrial growth in sectors like energy, natural resources, utilities, public sector, financial services, and telecommunications in key countries including South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Angola, and Morocco.
Driving innovation by accelerating the deployment of crucial SAP technology solutions to address resource challenges on the continent. As many businesses aren’t saddled with legacy systems, Africa is uniquely positioned to embrace the latest technological innovations like mobile, cloud, and the flagship in-memory platform SAP HANA®.
Promoting the growth of small and midsize enterprises (SMEs) that make up 40% of Africa’s GDP. As part of this venture, Kenya has been chosen as the next market for SAP’s Emerging Entrepreneur Initiative, given the potential and the strength of the Kenyan market to nurture a robust entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Fostering growth and skills development with the proposed launch of additional Skill for Africa Scholarship Programme sessions in South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, and Angola by year-end. This could lead to the creation of an open business ecosystem of SAP-qualified consultants ready to execute various projects. The initiative follows the formal agreement on skills development between SAP Africa and the World Bank last year.
According to insights from IDC, emerging technologies like mobility and the cloud represent the fastest-growing IT segments and have a profound effect on a business’s ability to grow and innovate. IDC maintains that solid and forward-looking investment plans can greatly enhance Africa’s ICT landscape and its competitiveness on a global scale.
SAP already leads the technology market in South Africa and is gaining increasing traction in focus countries. In Africa, there are roughly 700 SAP employees. As part of the plan, SAP will recruit up to 250 employees through 2015, establish offices in Angola and Morocco in 2015, and broaden the company’s partner ecosystem and University Alliances program in Africa.
source: BizTech Africa
Light edits were made in 2025 to improve clarity and relevance.
Paul Balo is the founder of TechBooky and a highly skilled wireless communications professional with a strong background in cloud computing, offering extensive experience in designing, implementing, and managing wireless communication systems.
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.
