MStore announces $50 million retail expansion across Africa

22 Aug 2016
Financial Nigeria

Summary

The expansion is designed to make MStore the largest mobile and electronics retailer in Africa, creating over 5,000 jobs.  

Akash Kumar, Managing Director, Midcom Group

Midcom Group, a diversified conglomerate operating across 17 countries in West Africa, East Africa and the Middle-East, has announced a $50 million investment to expand its MStore brand from 300 outlets currently, to 1,300 in 2018 and over 2,000 outlets by 2020. According to a statement on Sunday, the company said this expansion will make MStore the largest mobile and electronics retailer in Africa, creating over 5,000 jobs.   

MStore is an authorized distributor of Samsung consumer electronics products in Nigeria. MStore also has a presence across Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Ghana and Togo. The investment will enable MStore to increase its presence in these markets and also enter new ones, including Chad, Ivory Coast and Senegal.

“We’ve been operating across the continent for over 14 years in an array of industries which complement one another by allowing us to successfully apply the group’s combined knowledge and expertise of African markets and sectors to the continued growth of our brands," said Akash Kumar, Midcom Group’s Managing Director. "The expansion of MStore is the latest realisation of that growth strategy, which we believe any other international organisation moving into these markets would struggle to replicate. By starting small, with 300 locations, we’ve used our knowledge of the markets to apply a strategy that will make us the largest mobile and electronics retailer on the continent.”

The Dubai-based Midcom Group's operations span telecommunications, consumer electronics, agriculture, education, commercial and residential real estate and Forex.   

“The expansion of MStore will support another of our businesses, FERO, our recently launched line of mobile phones, by providing full sales and technical support to FERO customers across our markets. This type of on-the-ground support is a service no other mobile operator in Africa is able to offer,” Kumar said.

According to Midcom Group, the new FERO range of mobile phones are designed specifically for African markets. There are 16 models of FERO, including feature phones and smartphones.

MStore also provides technical support and after-sales services for customers facing issues with their devices, including a 48-hour turnaround time guarantee to resolve customer issues, according to Midcom.


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