AST to Step Up Sales Efforts, Expand Market in Africa
AST Research Inc., an Irvine personal computer manufacturer that has aggressively pursued business opportunities in the Soviet Union, Japan and other foreign markets, on Monday announced plans to step up sales efforts in Africa.
AST said it has created a separate African sales region to be managed from its Irvine headquarters, and that it plans to open its first sales office on the continent by 1993. The company named Javed Khan to head the new sales operation.
AST plans to target multinational corporations, government and international agencies, and educational institutions in Africa, said Khan, who joined AST in 1985 and has been responsible for recruiting distributors in Africa.
Last year, AST sold only $500,000 in computers to the African nations of Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritius, Nigeria, Tanzania and Zaire. It plans to start sales efforts in Botswana, Cameroon, the Ivory Coast, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
The personal computer industry has largely ignored Africa as a potential market, said Steve Lair, an analyst with Dataquest Inc., a San Jose market researcher. He said that a general lack of financial resources, high illiteracy rates and diverse languages pose special problems in the African market.
Nevertheless, Khan said AST believes that by making inroads into the African market now, it will be in a position “to set the pace for the modernization of the businesses in this region.”
AST plans to develop computer applications to meet the specific needs and resources of African countries, Khan said. “These (markets) are very price sensitive,” he said. “Our machines and products will have to be priced in such a way that they will be affordable to the general population and businesses.”
AST had sales of $533.8 million for its fiscal year ended June, 1990, about 36% of which came from the international market.
Recently, the Irvine firm has stepped up sales efforts in the Soviet Union and China. This year, it became the first U.S. company to announce plans to market a computer in Japan that is compatible with industry standard machines made by Japan’s NEC Corp.
