Efem Nkanga
16 July 2008
Lagos — The President of Coscharis Group, Dr Cosmas Maduka, has stated that the new Cosmos PC from its stable will represent intelligent IT solutions to specific human needs in Nigeria.
Maduka, who stated this in a keynote address delivered at the unveiling of Cosmas PC in Lagos, emphasised that the introduction of its locally-assembled PC into the Nigerian market in the midst of existing foreign and local brands is borne out of a strong need to fill a yawning gap in the supply/demand equation of the PC business.
He disclosed that several surveys conducted in the past two years by the Group provided adequate justification for the introduction of another Made-In-Nigeria PC in the market.
He added that besides these surveys, a recent World Bank report revealed that IT or PC penetration in Nigeria is not more than 2 per cent, a figure which, according to him, reveals a huge gap begging to be filled.
According to him, the Cosmos PC with its varied specifications will address different target markets like: the corporate market (including banks, oil companies etc), the middle market (including small businesses) and the lower segment which includes schools, homes and individuals. He also emphasised that the Cosmos brand will be defined in a manner that will unleash the dormant potential of the average struggling African who is yet to set his foot on the bridge to the digital world.
The theme of the new Cosmas PC "Consider IT Solved" according to Maduka is geared at lifting up people's lives, improving productivity in the work place, connecting village schools to the global platform and enabling reform in the nation's style of governance. He added that "with partnerships with companies like Microsoft and Intel, we see Cosmos enabling zero-downtime service in banks, oil firms and large manufacturing firms". Cosmos according to him will also represent hope to the bottom-of-the-pyramid of over 100million un-served and underserved Nigerians who are seeking for the tools of empowerment that can raise them above the poverty line.
Cosmos will also represent hope to the six-year-old boy in a primary school in the Mburku village of Bauchi State who has never seen a computer in his life-time, but who can easily be transformed into global citizenship to compete with his counterpart in India or USA just by owning and using a COSMOS internet-enabled laptop.
Another dream he shared on the capability of Cosmos is that it shall represent that 50-year-old civil servant in Nigerian Railways, Makurdi, who takes ten days scouring through the archives of staff files, but who, if adequately empowered with relevant package of Cosmos solutions could retrieve in a second the 1960s record of a retiring colleague.
Maduka further emphasised that though the "IT needs and challenges of our society appear intimidating, however, we believe that if Cosmos can forge the right kind of coalition with our vendors and partners there will be no mountain too high for us. We are proud of the collaboration we are having with Microsoft, Intel Corporation and a Singaporean firm that are enabling us realise the Cosmos dream." He added that "In the coming months, Cosmos shall be forging more alliances that will enable it deliver on its vision not only in Nigeria but across the West African sub-region".
He emphasised that Cosmos choose the theme "Consider IT Solved", because the Cosmos brand shall approach every need or problem from the point of view of speedy delivery of smart solutions rather than dropping boxes on customer's desks. He added that with the current sub theme of the market which is "zero-down time", Cosmas PC will ensure that a user of Cosmos in a bank or any other firm does not suffer downtime due to any defect.
He also disclosed that Cosmas in collaboration with its bankers and C&I Leasing has developed flexible payment schemes to enable individuals of low income bracket to own computers and pay over a period of 12 months.
He expressed the commitment of Cosmas to join other PC vendors and manufacturers to raise the penetration rate to 20% by the year 2020.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 This Day. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
