Canon, international Camera manufacturer is a frontrunner of a whole range of new technology in the cinema industry.
At a recent webinar series, Amine Djouahra Sales and Marketing Director – Canon Central and North Africa, chronicles Canon’s journey in the Africa film market.
Amine has an 18-year background of working with Consumer electronics, Digital Imaging, IT solutions with leading global brands in each segment. He is currently responsible for delivering on a customer focused strategy by Canon Central and North Africa with a multinational team in a multicultural market.
Journey in the African film market
Today, we have started by celebrating a unique series of collaboration. African journey for canon started years back but it took a certain sharp in 2016 because prior to that, the African Continent was managed through two regional sales offices, one in South Africa and one in Dubai but then Canon Management decided to be closed to the African customers and to enhance our offering and services by creating a dedicated organization which covers 44 countries from the African continent and this started in Dubai in the 60’s.
Off course, such an exciting journey had so many steps so we have opened offices and today am proud to say that 6 rep offices based in Africa, from the North to East and West these are Algeria, Casablanca, Egypt, Cairo, Nairobi also Lagos, Abidjan, Ivory Coast. We started hiring local Canon employees to represent Canon in the African countries and establishing a strong network of partners and service providers because in order to usher the African customers, premium products and solution with service which goes according to what Canon is really conscious about.
What we offer to each and every customer and for that we have to really be conscious into developing a strong network, being closer to our customers. And then, throughout out journey, we started bringing more and more in specific industry and special businesses and when we started approaching the professional video landscape, we wanted to understand each and every vertical, how do they operate, like the broadcasting, commercial production, cinema film industry and that is why the excitement came because Africa has so many to offer from culture, from the tradition, from landscape and nature and then you realize that they have fantastic film industries in Nollywood, no one has to speak about Nollywood, the number of production and international reputation, you have the Morrocan film industry, Egypt, you have Kenya which is offering, Algeria which is now shinning also, so we felt there is a lot to do.
As a leader in emerging industry, we wanted to play an important role in that, that is why we started in empowering first our team members, dedicated to team members in this field, starting collaborating with local big names like Kunle Afolayan, our first collaboration was in 2018, that is why we came close into the film industry in the African continent.
Tell us how that collaboration and technology have worked together?
If you ask the general public, Canon is famous for photo cameras, Canon is famous for printers but let me just give you few dates.
We started our journey in the cinema industry in the1970’s with the first cinema lens launch that came in the 1970’s and K35 line lens in 1973 and since that time, we have been very active more with the lens than cameras but in 2011, after the success in the video segment so Canon launched the E-west cinema range which in less than a decade, today am proud to say that we have12 EOS cinema cameras like the IE cameras with full frame, on top of that, we have also introduced 12 cinema lenses of our famous cinema prime lenses to the latest camera, the Sumaira range lenses.
So, I will say that in the cinema industries, we have been offering products, solutions but beyond that as a new manufacturer entering this very prestigious industry, we have to create references and we have to collaborate with very unique experts and producers just to share with any customer the real experience with local experts because just bring in our own ambassadors and our own experts gives us a certain one way testimony but when you hear from experts who has used these cameras who are showing it in the industry, who can give their own experience using camera devices, that gives a full and complete, comprehensive experience about this technology that we bringing to the industry.
