Mahindra Satyam intends to expand presence in South Africa

Leading Indian information technology consulting firm Mahindra Satyam, formerly known as Satyam Computers, plans to upgrade its operations in South Africa with a view to make the most of the goodwill that has been generated for the firm in the region in the wake of the Indian tech major’s involvement with the 2010 Fifa World Cup that concluded in Nelson Mandela’s country on Sunday last.

A financial website report quoted C P Gurani, CEO of Mahindra Satyam, saying that the Indian tech firm plans to scale up its ‘representative offices’ located in Cape Town and Johannesburg to the status of ‘area offices’ by adding more personnel on its role to enable these offices to market the advantages of working with Mahindra Satyam to its potential clients in the banking and financial services domain more aggressively. Gurani further said that the Mahindra Satyam also intends to open a new office in Durban.

According to Gurnani, although the company had officially taken a decision to enhance it reach in South Africa long before the commencement of the 2010 Fifa World Cup, execution of the plans have picked up momentum just some days in the wake of the keen attention shown by businesses in that country after they witnessed the expertise of Mahindra Satyam in handling the information technology requirements of the most favorite sports event in the world.

The Mahindra Satyam executive further noted that even the South African President and the First Lady of the country expressed immense interest in all our activities at the 2010 Fifa World Cup. He said that while these dignitaries were already aware of India’s capability in information technology, they were further influenced by the expertise of the Indian tech firms and now has a clear idea what the Indian firms are able to deliver. Citing an instance of the immense goodwill generated by Mahindra Satyam in South Africa, Gurnani said that they had sent a total of 400 invitations to its various stakeholders to attend the “India Nite’ networking program scheduled for July 10 and already conformations from as many as 350 patrons were in!

Meanwhile, a Fifa spokeswoman had already announced in June that the organization was eager to maintain the continuing business association with Mahindra Satyam throughout 2014 although the Indian tech firm has revoked its sponsorship for the next Fifa World Cup scheduled for 2010.