{{Samsung Electronics, South Korea’s consumer electronics manufacturer has opened shop in Rwanda to ease access to its genuine products in the country.
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The shop, which is opposite Union Trade Centre (UTC); a commercial
complex in the heart of the capital Kigali will ease access to the
firm’s genuine products, an official has said.

Samsung Electronics Africa Chief Operating Officer (COO) Mr. George
Ferreira said in an interview in Kenya’s capital Nairobi recently that
the shop would improve distribution of Samsung products in Rwanda.

By opening in Kigali, Samsung hopes to see more of its original
products capture the market thus kicking out fake products branded
Samsung.

This is expected to increase customer satisfaction, an ingredient that
Samsung uses to retain its customers.

The shop showcases a range of Samsung products including the most
popular ones—refrigerators, mobile handsets, computers, and television
screens.

The opening of Samsung in Kigali follows entry of rivals LG
Electronics, Hewlett Packard (HP) and Nokia. LG is also a South Korean based
firm.

The LG shop is situated on airport Avenue in Giporoso, Remera in Kigali
City but the firm’s products can mostly be found in most Indian-owned
electronics shops in the country.

Like Samsung, LG is also selling electronics products including mobile
phones, home appliances like refrigerators, television screens and
computers.

HP and Nokia use local distributors to supply their products.

The two Asian firms—LG and Samsung are strong competitors back in
Korea but Samsung is three times bigger than LG, according to Mr.
Ferreira.

LG has been operating in Africa for more than a decade while Samsung
has only been in the continent at least one year.

Although the two firms are aggressively penetrating the Rwandan mobile market, they are facing tough competition from Finnish firm Nokia.

Nokia has a bigger market share in Rwanda especially in the mobile phone segment.

In the computer and its accessories market, HP dominates the Rwandan market. On TV sets and other home appliances, Samsung and LG are targeting new markets in Africa, but Samsung says it wants to grow Africa market and beat all the other Consumer Electronics makers by 2015.

The firm says it will invest around USD140 million in five years and
increase sales revenue from USD1.2 billion last year to $10
billion by 2015 in Africa only.

Samsung is currently operating in more than 30 African countries
including Rwanda’s neighbors Burundi, Uganda, and
Tanzania. It has East Africa regional offices in Kenya, Nairobi.

Last month, the firm held a forum for its Africa partners in an event
that took place in Nairobi. At the same time, Samsung displayed its latest products ranging from Google’s Android (operating system) powered mobile phones and touch screen computers.