The reorganization of the Nokia Kenya office, implemented as part of the mobile handset manufacturer’s global strategy introduced in February 2011, has brought with it mixed fortunes for the firm’s managers based in Nairobi.
Even though the Kenya office has been downgraded from regional headquarters to a local sales office, a move that put it under South Africa, some of the staff have moved up and assumed managerial positions as part of the exercise.
Two previous staff members – Michael Miano and Caroline Kihara – have each assumed senior positions in the new arrangement, with Miano becoming head of finance and control for South East Africa area while Kihara has been appointed head of logistics for South East Africa.
Mr Miano was previously in charge of finance for East Africa, before he was moved to South Africa and now looks after all of South East Africa in the new organization while Ms Kihara was head of logistics for East Africa but now has an expanded portfolio, looking after all of South East Africa.
As part of the new changes to the Kenya operation, Nokia’s former general manager for the Kenya office and regional head, Kenneth Oyolla, has also assumed a more senior role, moving to London to become the head of Nokia’s global market activation.
Mr Oyolla has been replaced by Bruce Howe who will be in charge of Nairobi office - also called East Africa Local Sales Office – which is in charge of operations in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Mozambique, Angola and Zambia.
Media reports in December 2011 indicated that at least six managers in Nokia's Nairobi office would be replaced as part of the reorganization as their roles would be handled from South Africa, claims that are now refuted by Delia Sieff, Nokia’s director of communications for sub-Saharan Africa.
“We still have functional leads based in Nairobi for the local sales office, which manages the business across East Africa. Functions such as Business Operations, Customer Care and Developer Relations are still managed by the same team members.
The promotion of team members, such as Caroline for logistics, has opened up new leadership opportunities for other team members within the Nairobi office,” said Sieff, adding that employees who have left are part of a program that offers them placement support and training opportunities.
Nokia’s Nairobi was previously manned by 28 staff, but the reorganization has seen the number reduced to about 20 employees. One of the positions done way with is head of communications for Eastern Africa which will from now be handled from South Africa.
In an email interview, Sieff said that the reorganization has not affected various Nairobi-based positions, noting that there is still a general manager for East Africa as well as a local manager for finance, marketing activation, customer care, logistics and developer outreach, as well as sales (also called business operations).
“There are also dedicated operator account and retail managers who are part of the Business Operations team. These local managers are responsible for the business in East Africa and are further supported by Area managers and teams based in South Africa. This is a similar model as South Africa which is also a local sales office within the South East Africa Area,” said Sieff.
Overall, the reorganization has seen the Nairobi office being elevated to act as Nokia’s research and investment centre for India, Middle East and Africa (IMEA), a move that will lead to an increase of investment of 25 per cent this year compared to 2011.
The reorganization aims to help the firm stem the tide and hold its own against the onslaught from emerging device manufacturers - like Samsung, LG, Huawei and Apple among others – and help it regain marketshare.
A research by Gartner, whose results were released in November 2011, noted that “despite a drop in market share, Nokia continued to be the worldwide leader in mobile device sales, accounting for about 24 per cent of all global sales.”
The Gartner report states the second quarter of 2011 “was a low point for Nokia, although the third quarter brought signs of improvement.”
“Dual-SIM phones in particular, and feature phones generally, maintained Nokia’s momentum in emerging markets. Heavy marketing from both Nokia and Microsoft to push the new Lumia devices should bring more improvement in the fourth quarter of 2011,” said the report, adding that “a true turnaround won’t take place, however, until the second half of 2012.”
