HP to set up major center in Tanzania

Original story by John Kulekana in Capetown

HEWLETT-Packard Company (HP), one of the world's largest information technology companies, will soon open a major centre in Tanzania, as part of its global expansion plan, a senior official with the firm said over the weekend.

"The move is part of HP global expansion plan. At present paper work on the project is going on. It will be a fully operational office," HP Senior Vice-President (Growth Markets), Mr Brian Humphries said.

Mr Humpries said this during talks with President Jakaya Kikwete on the sidelines of a three-day 21st World Economic Forum (WEF) for Africa, which ended in Cape Town, South Africa towards the end of last week.

HP specializes in developing and manufacturing computing, data storage and networking hardware. It is also involved in designing software and delivering services.

Major product lines include personal computing devices, enterprise and industry standard servers, related storage devices, networking products, software and a diverse range of printers, all-in-one's and other imaging products.

President Kikwete said he was glad with the firm's decision and pledged full government's support.Mr Kikwete also called upon the company to assist Tanzania develop and promote IT industry through training of local experts.

Mr Humpries said apart from marketing its products to households, small- to medium-sized businesses and enterprises directly as well as via online distribution also deals with institutions, including governments in provision of IT solutions.

The president told the HP executive that the government was committed to promotion and development of CIT application in the country and briefed him on various on-going projects and initiatives.

He said the country has invested 'substantially' in marine and terrestrial fiber-optic networks that will cover every district by the end of this year.The networks are expected to reduce costs for internet service providers and improve connectivity in the country.

Earlier last week, a South Korean conglomerate, Samsung Corporation announced plans to open an assembly plant in Tanzania under export processing zone (EPZ) scheme.

Posted in: Africa