Tecno Dumps Plan to Establish Plant in Nigeria, Opts for Ethiopia

By Bankole Orimisan

RIDING on its successes in the Nigerian market, Chinese telephone brand, Tecno has concluded plans to build a factory in Ethiopia to enhance its profile in Africa, investigations have revealed.

   Management of Tecno, it was revealed chose Ethiopia ahead of Nigeria because of what sources described as the security challenges facing the country.

   According to the source, Tecno's business strategy in Nigeria in the near future and does not include setting up production plants.

Although, the Group Vice President of the mobile phone brand, Arif Chowdhury had at a media interactive session in May 2013, said the company would build its African plant in Nigeria, investigations have shown the company is favouring Ethiopia because of what the company described as unfavourable investment policy regime and the prevailing security challenges facing the country.

  Chowdhury had at the 2013 session with journalists claimed the brand was "still waiting for right policies of government on duty structure for mobile phone import to finalize their plans in building the plant."

   But reports indicate that TECNO GROUP, made significant progress in its factory construction in the country at the horn of Africa with Ethiopian government already dedicating an investment area for the establishment of an ICT Park to support the development of ICT. The foundation stone was laid for Techno group in this investment park in October 2013.

  Tecno's African business portfolio has been growing rapidly over the past few years, with Nigeria accounting for more than 80 percent of the company' sales in Africa while Kenya and Ghana comes very distant second and third in that order, a situation many believe would have influenced the company's choice of where to set up its African Assembly plant.

The Chinese phone brand has recently been embroiled in controversy over allegations that it was colluding with security agencies and regulatory bodies to entrench a regime of monopoly at the low end of the mobile phones market. The brand was recently fingered as the brain behind the raid of the Computer Village hub of mobile phone sales in Nigeria where phones valued at over N200 million were seized under the guise of their being counterfeit phones.