SanDisk shows growth in Middle East and Africa

9 Sep 2011

Driven by the high mobile phone penetration rates and a growing appetite for flash-based storage devices in Africa, SanDisk, the manufacturer of flash memory cards, reports that there has been between a double and triple digit market growth in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) so far this year.

"Based on global market research, our most popular product segments are flash memories for smart-phones, tablets and solid-state drives (SSD) for PCs. Our market in the Gulf is very mature and showing excellent growth," said Tareq Husseini, SanDisk's regional sales director, Middle East and Africa (MEA).

In South Africa and East Africa, first-quarter sales for 2011 have exceeded the entire year's sales for 2010, with South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria leading the region. The UAE, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and other countries in the GCC have shown double and triple-digit year-on-year growth in the first quarter of 2011.

"The UAE is the most mature market for flash storage for digital devices. As more high-profile concerts and exhibitions are held in the UAE, we have seen a lift in the usage of higher capacity cards, a positive sign for our business," said Sreedhar Sreekumar, regional sales manager for SanDisk MEA.

Strategic partnerships

SanDisk entered into strategic partnerships with major distributors in the region like Ahmed AbdulWahed Trading and Jarir Bookstore in Saudi Arabia, National Stores and Redington Gulf in the UAE, Salam Studios in Qatar and international agencies in Bahrain. In South Africa and East Africa, SanDisk's retail presence is bolstered by alliances with distributors MiDCOM and Tudortech.

"Our alignments with key retailers and the tech-savvy predominantly young population of the region are our greatest assets. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries lead in unit sales, with the UAE and Saudi Arabia setting the trend," concluded Husseini.