As part of the IBM’s geographic expansion plans targeting key growth markets in Africa, IBM announced the opening of its office in Dakar, Senegal.
The Dakar office is part of IBM’s West Africa operations and will allow the company to increase its level of service, and deliver more complex and high-value solutions such as cloud computing and business analytics. IBM will also be to deliver high-value solutions and services to meet the growing needs of clients in Senegal and West Africa, where the company is working closely with a number of business partners.
“Today’s expansion into Senegal demonstrates IBM’s commitment to the African market as we work to build out high-value solutions for our clients and partners across the continent. Dakar will become one of more than 230 IBM branch offices across 54 growth market countries. Our success in Africa is a pivotal part of our overall growth markets strategy. Expanding into Senegal offers IBM a significant opportunity for doing business with suitable market conditions, established IT infrastructure, telecommunications and transportation.” said Bruno Di Leo, General Manager, IBM Growth Markets.
With offices in more than 20 African countries including South Africa, Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, and Mauritius, IBM is planning on significantly increasing its footprint on the continent. A critical component of that effort is to help cultivate local technology talent. To do that, IBM has begun partnering with African universities. For example, IBM is working with Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar and Thies University in Thies as part of a global academic program to help teach students the information technology skills they need to be competitive in the workplace. Faculty at both institutions has been trained on a range of software products to help build skills in these areas as the courses are incorporated into the university curricula.
