SAP Experts, business leaders, and technology partners met to discuss the role and potential of innovation in powering East Africa’s economic development and growth. The event, tagged SAP Innovation Day Kenya, was part of a series of global events held in key markets.
SAP Innovation Day Kenya followed similarly successful events held in South Africa and Nigeria in May and July, respectively. Commenting on the region’s innovation potential, Hardeep Sound, Regional Sales Director, in his address, noted that East-Africa companies are investing in technology and business transformation towards building more efficient and resilient systems.
Sound remarked, “Interest in business AI and cloud ERP solutions are at an all-time high as companies seek to reimagine their business future by leveraging powerful technologies.” He adds that companies across the region are advancing their innovation efforts towards unlocking new opportunities for growth “powered by the latest digital transformation capabilities and supported by a rich ecosystem of expert partners.”
SAP Acknowledges Growing Interest in “Necessary” AI for Driving Enterprise and Innovation
The event saw various business and tech leaders across East Africa address the latest strategies and approaches to tech-led innovation, with business AI taking center stage as a prominent tool in driving the next wave of growth and innovation. Meanwhile, Johannes Dressler, Managing Director for Emerging Africa at SAP, observes that a growing interest in AI will help companies remain competitive and subsist in turbulent economic times.
Dressler emphasizes the growing interest in AI across the region while noting that East Africa is a strategic market for SAP and home to some of the fastest-growing economies in the world. While noting that technologies like AI have become “necessities rather than luxuries,” Dressler advises companies to “connect their end-to-end processes and drive greater efficiency, innovation, revenue and profitability.”
The event also included a panel discussion that saw Martin Mwarangu, Group Chief Information Officer at the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA), share unique insights into his firm’s transformation journey. KTDA is a private firm owned by 600,000 smallholder tea farmers spread across 16 counties in Kenya.
Mwarangu reveals that KTDA sought to achieve greater efficiencies and cost-savings throughout their operations while creating a solid foundation for future transformation efforts. He explains, “one of our core objectives is the adoption of best practices, for example, standardized financial reporting across our various business entities that would enable improved decision-making.”
KTDA’s representative says his organization remains open to further innovations in its transformation journey, with plans to leverage SAP’s human capital management and supplier management solutions to enhance KTDA’s capacity. But SAP Innovation Day Kenya was far from being a gathering of verbal exchanges alone.
The event also witnessed the announcement of a significant deal signing with Hewatele, a pioneering social enterprise specializing in supplying medical oxygen to over 150 facilities across Kenya. Hewatele’s new deal adopts SAP’s next-gen Cloud ERP solution to streamline operations and boost its capacity to deliver medical supplies more efficiently.
Amidst all these, Dumisani Moyo, Marketing Director at SAP Africa, observes that their organization is “thrilled to be at the forefront of this journey, empowering African enterprises to lead in the global marketplace through cutting-edge solutions and forward-thinking strategies.”
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