FUTURE TECHNOLOGY
What challenges are channel partners in MEA telling you they are finding in the current business climate ?
We have been exploring the Middle East and African market for the last 12 months and have identified many challenges some of them include : channel partners not having sales and marketing teams , sales and marketing not aligned with their business goals , lacking tools to transform the whole sales and service processes and a lack of driving more revenue from existing clients ( upselling / reselling ).
Which countries in MEA are you targeting this year and why ?
We are targeting Saudi Arabia , South Africa and Egypt as our tier one focus in the MEA market because of the number of local channel partners that are underserved in these three markets . Kenya , Ghana , United Arab Emirates and Nigeria come in as our tier two focus . Both tiers are equally important to us , but we have started to identify key vendors , distributors and channel partners to work with in 2021 and 2022 .
Looking ahead , what is Levels Ventures ’ plans in 2021 and beyond ?
Our plans for 2021 and 2022 is to empower as much as we can from channel partners so that they can deliver better customer experiences to their clients .
Our message for this year and next year is “ Power to the channel ” as we believe now that key local IT channel partners are getting more attention from vendors who want to enter new markets or want to work with key clients .
What business development initiatives and plans are in the offing for Levels Ventures post COVID-19 in MEA ?
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted a lot of businesses across the whole world . We saw that there is a part that we can play to help the channel ecosystem , so we offered and are still offering 10 free hours with 10 IT channel partners to explore growth areas and direct them on the right path . We have also been conducting a monthly webinar where we bring channel experts to
Our plans for 2021 and 2022 is to empower as much as we can from channel partners so that they can deliver better customer experiences to their clients .
advise and share their success and failures in responding to the COVID-19 impact on their business . Through the Ask Me Anything ( AMA ) sessions we conducted on a weekly basis , we give room to channel partners to share their challenges with us and we share our experience with them .
What channel programmes and initiatives is Levels Ventures planning for its channel partners in the Middle East this year ?
We are launching the Catalyst Programme , which includes a lot of support to the channel partners . The scheme will be focusing on the assessment of the channel partner ’ s health as a company . Two modules are there in the Catalyst Programme which include assessment , which is a very professional and structured process that is conducted by our consultants and measures the health of the channel partner with a weighted score from gathering 50 check points across the main business areas such as sales , marketing , product , pricing , team and competitive landscape .
Once the partner gets the results of the Catalyst assessment process , they get a recommendation report from out team where the channel partner can hire us to help them with the execution , execute with their internal resources or execute it with a third party . •
INTELLIGENT TECH CHANNELS Issue 42 37