Up close with vivo Kenya General Manager Arthur Xian

Qs: Vivo recently launched Kenyan office for regional operations, as you look to tap into local expanding middle class. What was the motivation behind this decision to set up in Kenya and why now?

 Ans: Kenya plays an important role in the East African Community as a regional economic hub. The country also has a growing entrepreneurial class and possesses an ever-expanding service sector.

-vivo aims to offer solutions to Kenya’s ever rising technology demand to individuals who have a high purchasing power for quality Smartphone consumption. We aim to tap into factors such as affordability, durability, trendy, reliability, responsiveness, customer service and performance on our extensive range of smartphones. We also want to position ourselves as a game-changer in the African smartphone market and not only in Kenya.

Qs: What gives you confidence about the Kenyan market, despite the prevailing challenges?

Ans: Kenya has a thriving economy, something that we can all agree.

We aim to tap on this and offer mobile phone solutions to the ever-expanding consumer demands. We therefore aim to make available all our devices to the Kenyan market over time, while making it a key center for our new products.

For instance, we recently opened our service center in CBD and we are looking forward to expand more centers to Mombassa and Eldoret in the next half year putting consumer interest at heart.

Qs: By when (target period) do you hope to break-even in this competitive market currently crowded by various players who are also keen on the same clientele?

Vivo is a well-recognized brand globally having pioneered some of the leading technologies such as the world slimmest phone the vivo X1 and the X3 in 2013 and in 2015 respectively among others, now we have the first dual pop up selfie in Kenya with the V17 Pro, we hope to continue trendsetting with our products something the we are uniquely positioned to do.

Our smartphones have been well received locally and vivo’s performance in the global market so far is the result of great effort in understanding consumer behavior. As a global brand we now have over three hundred million users and we are confident about the future in Kenya and we believe that we are on the right trajectory (Path) in sustaining our position as one of the top smartphone players in the international smartphone market as well as Kenya. As you can see we have been actively in the market within a couple of months and we are recognized as technology pioneers.

Qs: As the number of combined bands increases, so does the likelihood that some of the combined bands will share the same phone antenna. This situation creates new filtering challenges for smartphone makers. How do you intend to approach this challenge and what will give you that competitive edge over other players in the market?

Ans: vivo has a proven track record in R&D, the issue of combined band has brought some complexity in filtering signals. This has been addressed by having multiple antennas receive the same signal to enhance its quality and reliability.

The use of integrated diversity modules that are more complex and efficient save on space and power have given us an answer to this problem.  One of the leading benefit is that our phones, become global and can be used within big geographical locations worldwide since they support a variety of bandwidths. The saving of pace enable us to continue pushing the boundaries for consumer centered design and functionality.

Qs: What long term plans do you have in place for the Kenyan market going forward?

Ans: vivo is focused on redefining how consumers communicate in this market. We strongly believe in offering innovative and personalized experiences that will meet different needs of our customers across the country especially the millennials and the young at heart.

We also aim to tap into factors such as affordability, durability, reliability, responsiveness, customer service and performance on our extensive range of smartphones. We want to position ourselves as a game-changers going forward.

Qs: What’s the brand’s future outlook in terms of diversification owing to the growing technology space?

Ans: We are committed to forming an exciting mobile internet ecosystem, having well-structured plan to make our products available to all customers locally. Currently vivo owns and operates an extensive network of research operations, with R&D centers located in cities such as San Diego, Shenzhen, Beijing, and more. This will give us base to fully satisfy the market with exciting products.