Multichoice Nigeria is set to expand to other parts of the country especially the North, where they do not have a significant presence.
Joseph Hundah, managing director, Multichoice Nigeria, told Nigeria CommunicationsWeek that a large part of their budget is going into the expansion programme as they are setting up offices in the North and other parts of the country.
According to him, "Multichoice is not only expanding its network but is also expanding small and medium businesses in Nigeria. What we do basically is identify different parts of the country where we know we need branches and we look for businesspersons in those parts of the country, identify them and tell them to set up offices there. We help them with location, branding, computer hardware and software; we also help them manage subscribers in their database. That businessperson will actually become the face of Multichoice in that area."
He informed that Multichoice has set up thirteen of such offices across the country so far and is ready to include five more, totaling eighteen by the end of the year and hope to double the figure by the following year, adding that those businessmen they have partnered with are making good money out of the initiative, which is a good thing for Nigeria.
Hundah, acknowledging the challenge of cultural disparity as regards Multichoice’s expansion towards Northern Nigeria said, "I just commissioned a research a month ago to do a thorough investigation about the North in terms of content appreciation and what the people there like to watch, what they are watching currently and why they like watching them – what appeals to them in general."
"I quite agree they have a different culture, different way of looking at life, which is not a bad thing at all. Everybody is different and all we need is a better understanding of that culture, a better understanding of what they like in terms of content. We will take a decision based on what we find out on that. The research has not started yet but we will get more information about both the Northeast and the North-West. We will make our bouquet more customized to them and more appealing to their traditions, culture and lifestyle," he said.
When asked why it took Multichoice Nigeria a long time to expand to other parts of the country, Hundah said "The major reason why we have not expanded in the past is because we had one standard bouquet which was more on the pricy side. Now that there are lower tier bouquets, we are now able to reach other areas of Nigeria. We now feel that we can go into other areas, which may not be as affluent as Port-Harcourt, Lagos and other major cities. We can now go there since we have products that they can afford."
"I think we are in a position where we have learnt enough about Customer Service and other things that we need, to increase our customer base because putting the cart before the horse is not realistic. We do not want to expand too much and then struggle with service to customers. So, we have had to step up and increase our customer service level - to involve more people – and increase connection with the people."
"By the end of this financial year, we are hoping that we would have covered the majority of the locations in Nigeria so that we can become more accessible to different consumers. Nigeria is vast and one needs to map out a good strategy," Hundah concluded.
