A recent announcement by a senior official of the South Korean technology giant Samsung suggests that Guyana could be one of several Caribbean countries targeted for a major marketing blitz by the company.
As the company seeks to consolidate its position of global dominance in the field of information technology, its Vice President for Sales and Marketing of Hand Held Products and IT Business Elias Kabache announced last week that the region can anticipate a major promotional blitz with the launch of 41 “Samsung Experience stores”, this year.
Trinidad and Tobago, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Puerto Rico were named by Kabache as being among Samsung’s important markets ,while “the Bahamas and “the Guyanas” were described as “up and coming” markets.
While the Caribbean has, in the past, been considered a market of no more than peripheral interest for the global IT sector on account of its size, Kabache, in his comments, suggested that the establishment of a strong presence in the region was part of the company’s broader effort to cement its place as the dominant technology provider in the world.
“Part of the policy of Samsung is that we don’t leave any country behind no matter how small it is and in the Caribbean right now we have a lot of initiatives,” the senior company official is quoted as saying.
Samsung’s move to further cement its place in the regional market could see the company engage in educational initiatives and other private and public sector partnerships. Among the initiatives Samsung is currently undertaking in the Caribbean is the “Smart School Project,” a programme that allows teachers to upload work to Samsung tablets and monitor students’ progress. The programme, according to Kabache, has been tested and it has been found that children who use it develop a higher learning curve than children who do not. Samsung is reportedly engaging ministries of Education in the Caricom territories of Antigua and Barbuda and Trinidad and Tobago on the “Smart School Project”.
