Mary Ekah
Considered as a step towards enhancing filming and photography in Nigeria, Canon Central and North Africa (CCNA), a subsidiary of Canon Europe, made entry into West Africa by setting up its first local office in Nigeria.
Canon Europe – B2C, Sales Development and Marketing Director, Koji Sato, said during a press conference to announce the opening of Canon Nigeria Imaging Solution Limited in Lagos, that they have noticed Nigerians love good photography and images, stressing that Nigeria, is a big young population with potentials.
Sato explained that as a brand, Canon is trying to position itself based on quality. “We might not necessarily be the first to come to the market but we come usually with the right products with high quality, one that is sustainable, has some longevity and in some way feature-proof. Our latest marketing approach is giving people the chance to get the shot. It’s about photography being part of your DNA,” he noted.
He said Canon whole idea is to create tools, which allow people to create and preserve momentous images whether for leisure or work. It’s about images that last.
Interestingly, Canon entry into Nigeria is at a time when the business of photography is becoming more lucrative in the country as Nigerians now have a culture of taking pictures for every activity that happens in their lives which includes pre-wedding photo shoot, photo shoot to show “baby bump” shoot and photo shoot after child delivery.
Photography is now taken as a professional job as many of the youth in the country who are unemployed now use it as a means to make money. Nollywood is growing very fast and Canon is very much aware of that and is actively trying to create products and lens technology to suit this area. Of course, the content providers are aware of the products from Canon too. The C 100 to 700 products are ideally suited to work in movie making in various scenarios.
According to Sato, Canon is building a range of products not just suited to Nollywood but the filming industry as a whole by providing a range of products that can suit lower cost productions, small budgets movies as well as full feature length movies. The company will be partnering with Tenaui Africa Limited to open its dedicated showroom for B2B solutions in Nigeria. It will also be working with MFI International group. Canon already has a long-standing partnership with MFI for the distribution of Canon products, after sales services and MPS solution across Sub Saharan Africa.
