Kaspersky To Expand AFfrica MArket Frontier

As internet penetration gradually increases in Africa, world leading software security group, Kaspersky, is prepared to embark on aggressive marketing to strengthen its position in the African market.

The bid to increase its market penetration in providing anti-virus software and software security becomes pertinent as consumers are now going to be more vulnerable to cyber-crimes.

With presence in over thirty Africa countries, Kaspersky is one of the leading software companies on the continent. It enjoys a large market share in South Africa while Kenya remains its second largest market in Africa.
The software company plans to conquer the Nigerian market which has an estimated population of 160 million- making it the most populous black nation. The software group intends to make Nigeria one of its major key drivers for revenue in the near future.

Speaking on its marketing strategy in Africa, Kaspersky Group of sales and marketing officer, Chief, Garry Kondakov, said “We will be more aggressive in our marketing approach and we will even be more aggressive in Nigeria, where we already have a presence.”

Africa is an important market for many companies but the company’s marketing approach differentiated it from its competitors, he added.

Kondakov noted that although Kaspersky is spread across African countries and it enjoys a large market share in the South Africa software market; he affirmed that Kaspersky is still lagging its competitors in terms of enterprise.

Part of Kaspersky marketing tactic includes adding flavor to its campaigns and strengthening its relationship with its customers and other partners such as its resellers. It strategy also include providing training and technical support to its clients and resellers.

“The products we provide are the same everywhere but our marketing approach and relationship with partners makes are different. We localise our marketing and products,” he said.

The software firm might also partner with some of the continent’s mobile network operators to include the anti-virus software as part of the package.

Kaspersky’s clients are also expanding on the continent, while some already have a footprint, Business live reported.

Meanwhile, Kaspersky’s senior security researcher, Stefan Tenase, noted that though Africa’s internet penetration is still low when compared to other parts of the world; the common cyber-crime in Africa include phishing – but the rate of such activities was not as high as in markets where internet penetration was high and credit was available.

He however predicted that with the steady rise in internet penetration in the continent and as countries’ banking systems improve through the issuing of credit; there may be an increase in cyber-crime activities.

The group’s CEO and co-founder, Eugene Kaspersky, said the company paid particular attention to users’ needs and the threats they face when it developed the home user products.

“Knowing that the loss of sensitive data and money are the things that worry users most, we have developed an entire set of new protection technologies to address these concerns,” he said.

Privately owned and founded fifteen years ago, Kaspersky is ranked among the top three leading IT security software vendors that provide protection for about 300-million endpoint users.

VENTURES AFRICA