Canon to Create Jobs, Promote Skills Acquisition

• Canon to Create Jobs, Promote Skills Acquisition

A leader in imaging and business solutions, Canon, has said it will complement Federal Government’s efforts at creating jobs for the youths and also promote technical skills acquisition in the country to grow the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP).

The Sales and Marketing Director, B2C, Canon Central and North Africa (CCNA), Somesh Adukia, who spoke in Lagos at the unveiling of the partnership with local service centres, said through the firm’s “closer to customer,” strategy, it will partner local service centres that will be manned by trained local youngsters.

He said doing this will promote job creation as well as transfer of skill to locals, a development he said will translate to win-win for every stakeholder in the information communication technology (ICT) ecosystem.

He said pursuant to this mission and vision, the firm has partnered with three local service centres across three major cities in Nigeria to strengthen its in-country presence and optimise its customer satisfaction. The partnership will leverage the local strength and expertise of Ensure Services, Kontakt and Technology Distribution (TD) to help create a unique business-to-consumer experience for customers.

He said the Canon-authorised service centre initiative is designed to support the imaging community in Nigeria, while creating access to repair and offer support for industry professionals, businesses and photography enthusiasts.

Through the three service partners, Canon will offer total after-sales product repair services in eight locations across Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt. The service centres will support all B2C products including DSC, DSLR, professional video, OPP inkjet- and Laser-printers, projectors and calculators under the Canon Central and North Africa warranty programme.

He said the warranty programme is a specialised – first of a kind service, under CCNA, a division within Canon Middle East FZ LLC (CME), a subsidiary of Canon Europe. Within the programme, Canon will offer customers an exclusive three-year manufacturer warranty for Canon i-SENSYS Laser printers.

Adukia said: “The partnership is an important pillar in the brand’s ‘closer to the customer’ strategy which has been one of Canon’s key components for growth in Africa.

“This is a really exciting time to be part of the imaging industry and we’re proud to be raising the bar throughout the market. This partnership clearly amplifies our commitment to bringing our customers closer to our industry-leading products while helping them to maintain the quality that encourages them to have fun with imaging through our ‘Big Partnership, Trusted Services’ motto.

“Our setting up of a dedicated entity in Nigeria last year and the introduction of three specialised service providers is our commitment to providing the best possible services to our customers in Nigeria. We are also working towards establishing more collection points for our customers, in case they are located far away from the service locations.”

He said to communicate the launch of the service centres, Canon will also be launching a series of roadshows – consumer engagement activities and town storms across key locations.

He said Ensure Services is a company present in 26 countries with service delivery as their core business. Ensure Services is present in three cities in Nigeria, and within Lagos they are present in two locations; Isolo and Ikeja. It has a Canon-certified and trained team of engineers providing the best class service for customers. Canon has invested state of the art repair and calibration tools to provide best quality repair in Nigeria. Ensure also holds inventory of major spare parts for prompt repair and delivery of the products. Ensure will be responsible for providing support to the Photo video and OPP printer range.

Kontakt is a renowned name in the sales and service of professional video cameras and equipment. Canon has invested with Kontakt in specialised tools to provide high-quality product repair. This is the only facility available out of the European region to cater to customers in the professional video, media, broadcast and film industry; namely Nollywood.