BenQ appoints SA Country Manager

The world's second largest LCD monitor manufacturer, BenQ, has appointed Manoj Tripathi as country manager at its newly opened South Africa operation.

BenQ focuses on the manufacture of digital lifestyles devices and is a global leader in the display, storage, imaging, input, wireless and broadband markets.

Tripathi, who has operated in the Middle Eastern IT market for more than six years and with BenQ specifically for the past two years, says the organisation has identified South Africa as a potential growth market. "As a region, South Africa falls under our Middle Eastern concern," he says. "BenQ has identified South Africa as a major growth sector - we envisage a total number of 850 000 PCs to be sold locally next year.

"Our strategy is to capture 20 percent of the South African market by the end of 2005. We will build a presence around our Digital Media, Network Display and Imaging Network lifestyle devices and ensure BenQ becomes a favourite brand for South Africans."

BenQ has been represented in South Africa for the past year by partner, Drive Control Corporation (DCC). "DCC has done an extremely good job of branding and profiling BenQ products over the past year and we look forward to fortifying this relationship in the future," Tripathi says. "We have also just appointed another distributor to expand our reach into the local market."

In his previous capacity as account manager at BenQ, Tripathi handled a number of regions, including Pakistan and the GCC region. "As South African country manager, I have been tasked to promote the BenQ brand, increase the market share and set up service centres.

"A large part of this will be maintaining strong relationships with our distributors, ensuring they are be able to concentrate on selling product, without the additional burden of marketing and services they have carried to this point," he adds.