Guyana will today become the eighth country to benefit from the commitment given by the global information technology giant Samsung to launch 41 stores in the hemisphere as part an ongoing effort by the South Korean giant “to establish itself as the dominant technology provider in the world.”
Starr Computers Chief Executive Officer Mike Mohan whose Brickdam information technology complex will host the new “Samsung Experience Centre” told Stabroek Business in an interview earlier this week that the formal launch of the new Samsung store will take place this morning at 10. Mohan said he believed the choice of Guyana as one of the Samsung “locations” in the Caribbean presented “an opportunity for the development of the technology sector in Guyana” which the country could not afford to miss.
One of the most keenly anticipated spinoffs of the locally based Samsung facility is the company’s promised ‘Smart School Project’ that will allow teachers in local schools to upload work from the schools’ curriculum through Samsung tablets and make it available to children. “One of our priorities will be to engage the Ministry of Education and the school system as a whole in order to ensure that local students extract the maximum benefit from the Smart School Project, This is one promise made by Samsung that we intend to go after,” Mohan said.
The Starr Computers CEO told Stabroek Business that the choice of his company as the home for the Samsung facility in Guyana was made “only after a full background review” of the company. He said Starr had tendered, among other things, its “two decades of experience in technology integration in areas that included computers, security surveillance and consumer electronics.”
Rated globally as the world’s number one producer of electronic goods since 2006, Samsung provides direct employment for more than 270,000 people worldwide and has more than 100,000 contract workers.
Mohan told Stabroek Business that he expected that, over time, the advent of the Samsung Experience Centre would “directly and indirectly increase employment and add value to the country’s information technology profile.”
While today’s launch of the new Samsung Store is “a proud moment for Starr Computers, Mohan said the facility will be a “new and challenging responsibility” for the company. “We expect that Samsung would be monitoring how we handle the Experience Centre. Image is everything for a company like Samsung,” Mohan said.
The announcement that Samsung would launch several stores in the Caribbean was made earlier this year by Samsung Vice President for Sales and Marketing for Hand Held Products and IT Business Elias Kabeche who described the Caribbean as being “very important” to Samsung. “Part of the policy of Samsung is that we don’t leave any country behind no matter how small it is,” Kabeche said.
The new Samsung store will provide product and services in three distinct areas, namely, Hand Held Devices that include cellular phones, IT Division comprising computers, notebooks, tablets and related devices and the Audio Visual Department which will focus on televisions.
Mohan said he expected that the arrival of a full-fledged Samsung store in Guyana will encourage stores to market Samsung home appliances.
Additionally, Mohan said that the service and repair facilities afforded through the new Guyana “connection” with Samsung ought to help eradicate the use of “clones” in the servicing of Samsung equipment.
