Okere Extols IBM Business Model in Africa

Austin Okere, founder and CEO of Computer Warehouse Group Plc has commended International Business Machine (IBM) business model in Africa, which according to him is customer focused.

He stated this at a cocktail reception for preferred partners and customers in Lagos for Ms Ginni Rometty, president and CEO of IBM.

He enumerated the recent successes that his company has had with IBM, including deployment of the very successful high end IBM Enterprise Servers at Skye Bank, Mainstreet Bank and Enterprise bank to support their core Banking applications.

Okere also highlighted that CWG, being a premier business partner of IBM in Nigeria, Ghana and Uganda has brought immense value to the partnership through customer focused seminars and education fora with the support of the respective country local offices of IBM.

He reiterated his company’s continued commitment to the high standards and professionalism for which she is well known in deploying IBM technologies to businesses in Africa.

It will be recalled that earlier in the year, CWG in conjunction with IBM and Infosys showcased IT Transformation solutions for the financial services sector in East Africa at the Ugandan capital, Kampala.

It would be recalled that Ms Rometty during her recent working visit to Nigeria has significantly increased the focus on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Nigeria, and clearly outlined IBM’s stake in it.

Ms Rometty disclosed IBM’s intentions for ICT development and support in Africa and Nigeria during her visit to the minister of Communication Technology, Mrs Omobola Johnson.

Ms Rometty stated that IBM will establish an innovation centre in Nigeria in the first quarter of 2014 and fund major ICT research projects, complementing the efforts of the Ministry of Communication Technology’s iDEA incubation centres and other ICT entrepreneurs to make Nigeria an ICT hub for software innovation.

Johnson, commended IBM for her renewed focus and commitment to Nigeria after a long history of operations in Nigeria.

The Computer Warehouse Group (CWG) is a foremost Pan African Systems Integration Company with annual revenues in excess of $120m and a staff complement of over 650.

The company currently has physical presence in Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda and Cameroon, with virtual operations in seventeen (17) African countries.

The company has a proven track record of deploying business solutions that boost the performance of large corporate organisations in Africa, thereby enabling these organizations to compete globally, and contribute to the economy of the continent.

Worthy of mention is CWG’s contribution to technology education through capacity building at its IT Academy, which trains over 200 professionals every year.

The CWG Academy provides the opportunity for resident IBM certified engineers to impact fresh graduates through class room training, hands-on and live project attachments from which many of the graduates from the Academy have gained employment with world-class companies such as MTN, Standard Chartered Bank, FCMB and CWG amongst others.