Acknowledging the market growth made by Lenovo in South Africa, the company instituted its first annual business partner awards evening to acknowledge both individuals and companies that have contributed to building its brand. These took place recently at Madame Zingara's Theatre of Dreams.
"The brand is exclusively channel driven on the African continent," says Lenovo consumer and SMB manager for Africa, Paul Collins. "So the fact we've made inroads into the market in only two years, with IDC verifying that we grew our market share in South Africa in the last quarter of 2010 to 11.3% and took number 1 spot, at 17.9%, in the consumer segment, is in large measure due to the commitment and enthusiasm of our business partners. In essence, our home is the channel.
"We therefore believe that it's essential to acknowledge and celebrate in a very public way the role our partners play in our success, not only in terms of the reseller companies but also the individuals inside them who are so effectively building the brand."
Awards
- Excellence in Service and Support - Mubeen Suleman, PartServ
- Excellence in Service and Support - Wessel Hanekom, Ntinga IT
- Promoter of the Year - Teddy Faster, Hi Fi Corporation Boksburg
- Promoter of the year - Fabian Abrahams, Makro Milnerton
- Business Unit Manager of the Year - Suria Pretorius, Pinnacle Africa
- Lenovo achievement award - Max ASP
- Most Improved Reseller of the Year - Micro D
- REL (relationship / "corporate") Reseller of the Year - Datacentrix
- HSB (consumer and small business) Reseller of the Year - Get IT
- REL Distributor of the Year - Tarsus Technologies
- HSB Distributor of the Year - Pinnacle Africa
- SMB Retailer of the year - Makro
- Retailer of the year - Hi-Fi Corporation
Champions
A further category was the Lenovo Champions, recognising individual commitment to the brand. These are:
- Adele de Villiers
- Alexi Hume
- Allison Flynn
- Ashley Turnbill
- Cameron Murray
- Cobus Erasmus
- Francois de Kock
- Grant Pottier
- Jacky Sinclair
- Janine de Villiers
- Jeremy Pillai
- Lawrence Friedman
- Maylene Davids
- Nick Reeks
- Ray Hamilton
- Rene Keller
- Steven Theobald
- Tim Templeton
- Venesia Kendell
- Wendy Dlamini
- Yessica van Wyk
The awards, which include a certificate and a trophy, focused on commitment, brand building, sales capability and service excellence. Collins says, "What separates the exceptional business partners from the others is the ability to offer the levels of sales support and service that match the quality of the products themselves."
The event took place on 12 May 2011.
