IBM TO EXTEND MARKET WINGS TO GAMBIA

In what is seemingly turning out to be a fruitful partnership between Unique Solutions, an internet provider, and the International Business Machine (IBM), an American multinational technology and consulting corporation, the latter sees huge possibility of extending its market outreach in the West African country, after a seminar held at the Coca Ocean hotel, Bijilo.
In his remarks, Papa Yusupha Njie, the Chief Executive Officer, Unique Solutions, said the seminar gives IBM the opportunity to “extends its market reach through the dynamic partnership” with his conglomerate to bring first class innovative technological services directly to the doorsteps of Gambian businesses.

IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas ranging from mainframe computers to nanotechnology. As of December 2011, IBM was the third-largest publicly traded technology company in the world by market capitalization.
Founded in 1911 as the Computing Tabulating Recording Corporation through a merger of three companies: the Tabulating Machine Company, the International Time Recording Company, and the Computing Scale Corporation, the worldwide conglomerate is celebrating over hundred years of innovation and providing of first class hi-tech solutions and services to its vast clientele and partners all over the world.
“We believe that this partnership is what we are witnessing today and we do hope that the benefits to the Gambia will be seen in the coming days, months and years,” says Mr Njie, the winner of the 2011 ‘Africa Award for Entrepreneurship’.
He believes the year 2012 will be astounding one, given the nature of technological development in the offing. “The relevance to the Gambia is indeed very clear as 2012 promises to be an exciting year in the ICT industry with the commissioning of the ACE [Africa cable to Europe] submarine cable.”

The advent of undersea fibre optic cables has changed the game at all levels in our continent and we hope that this will be the case for The Gambia in 2012, he adds.
Whilst he underscores hope that IBM would take advantage of the ACE project, he unveiled that plans are afoot to test Unique Solution’ s 4G service, prior to the official launching during the second quarter of 2012.
“We believe that this partnership with IBM coupled with our existing and upcoming infrastructure will go a long way in providing the required recipe for success needed for IBM to call [The] Gambia a hub of innovation and excellence in the services and solutions to be provided to all.”

IBM Country General Management for Senegal, Mamadou Ndiaye, says the partnership between them intends to build a win-win-partnership, where both partners could work together in solving all the issues facing their customers.

“Everybody is aware of what IBM can offer in term of product and service,” he says.
However, IBM was stereotype for what others called ‘Hardware Company’, but this, Njie explains has changed for the past decades. “We have become a service company. As you can see in my presentation, 60% of our revenue come from services,” adding that IBM is a value-driven company.