" ITREALMS: Ghana chooses Omatek for i-ADVANCE

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Ghana chooses Omatek for i-ADVANCE

The Ghanaian government has chosen Omatek Computers Limited to be part of its i-ADVANCE, a Government Assisted Purchase Programme (GAPP), which is similar to the Federal Government’s Computer for All Nigerians Initiative (CANi).

Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), Omatek Computers Limited, Mr. Biyi Fashoyin, who disclosed this in a chat with Champion Infotel, said that the Ghanaian government has chosen Omatek for its own version of CANi alongside other foreign brands as partner in the project including Intel.

Champion Infotel recalls that the computers sold under iADVANCE brand, is expected to meet international specifications similar to proprietary products, which sell on the local marketplace at over twice the retail price.

Champion Infotel gathered that this would entail assembling the computers in Ghana, with the theme computer4all.

He also expressed optimism that with the support of the Ghanaian government, Omatek would soon be positioned to take its pride of place in the Ghana market.

Mr. Fashoyin added that it was the government that invited Omatek into the country after a visit to its factory in Oregun-Ikeja in Lagos, noting that the launch of Omatek Ghana a fortnight ago shows the kind of support Omatek derives from the government of Ghana.

“We launched our Ghana office few weeks back and it was probably the biggest event in Ghana this year. We had seven ministers present and some who could not come sent representatives,” he said.

He pointed out that Ghanaians were happy over the official coming into the country of Omatek.

“Omatek has now become their own first completely knocked down factory,” he said.

Assuring that Omatek Ghana is for Ghanaians by Ghanaians for the world, and maintained that although one or two Nigerians could go there on technical expertise grounds, its solely Ghanaians.

He emphasised that from the general manager and his key officers are Ghanaians.

“Everybody in the factory is Ghanaian. You may have one or two Nigerians here and there on transfer but basically it is run by Ghanaians,” he said, even as the Ghana factory would serve the West African region.

This, he said, would enable the Nigeria factory to concentrate on the 140 million populations to deal with, because Omatek’s vision is to ensure availability and affordability of its Personal Computers (PCs) at every home in Nigeria as well as any other location where the firm has operations.

In a related development, Ghanaian Minister of Communications, Dr. Benjamin Aggrey Ntim recently commissioned Omatek’s special 8 and 10-inch notebooks in the country.

He also used the occasion to extend invitation to other Information and Communication Technology (ICT) companies worldwide to invest in Ghana as the government is providing the requisite vibrant ICT policies and strategies for the country.

The policy, he said, represents the ministry’s desire to ensure that ICT capabilities are harnessed, replicated, and adapted in both formal and informal set ups.

This, Dr. Aggrey indicated, demonstrates government determination to spur competition in the ICT sector of the country.

Managing Director, Omatek, Mrs. Florence Seriki listed the benefits of partnering with his company to include pioneering youth recruitment and empowerment in Information Technology, creating many Small Medium Establishments (SMEs), generating massive employment in ICT sector, promoting technology transfer and know-how among others.

Omatek, she said, has made some remarkable achievements, which took off in 1986, started by training its executives on one-on-one basis. After becoming premium partners with major brands in 1991, it launched its first locally assembled Omatek Computer brand from Semi Knocked Down (SKD) assembly in 1993 in Nigeria and by 2003, Omatek commenced to established its first locally assembly factory on the continent.

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