The office which will provide channel, sales, marketing and technical support for its operations in Turkey, Middle East and Africa region will be based in Dubai at the Airport Free Zone.
Patrick Wang, manager Middle East and Africa, notebook channel sales at MSI, says the move to set-up the regional headquarters for the Middle East in Dubai completes MSI’s broader plans as the brand has continued to gain traction in the region.
Wang says the move by MSI to set-up its regional head office follows the growth the company has recorded with its notebook and components business in the KSA and Egypt. “The Dubai office will have a team of just under 10 employees initially but we hope to grow the team as the business grows,” he says.
“We decided to initially set-up base in Riyadh because Saudi Arabia is the biggest notebook market and has one of the highest mobile PCs penetration in the region,” he says.
He explains that the office in Egypt was established to render support to the system builder channel as that country has the largest system builder market in the Middle East region.
Wang is upbeat that the setting up of the Dubai office will not only complement the existing operations in the two countries but will give MSI the impetus it needs to grow its business in the rest of the GCC and Middle East. “We do believe that Dubai’s standing in the re-export market will benefit our brand going forward,” he says. “We will be supporting this market with channel resources and tools that help partners to gain more sales and technical knowledge on MSI’s products.”
Wang points out that the MSI regional headquarters will be focusing strongly on growing the components and notebook channel in the region. “We are looking forward to growing our channel reach and coverage in the Middle East.”
Following the success of its notebook and components business in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and Egypt respectively, Taiwanese vendor Micro Star International (MSI) plans to set-up a regional head office in the UAE. Although details are still being finalised, MSI is hoping to have a full operational office at the start of the second half of 2010.
