The top eight dealers and ten sales agents were picked as the winners in a dealer incentive scheme that was in place to enable Kenyans to access the Orange Mobile service, which had just been launched, through purchase of the Samsung B130 handset, which was retailing at Ksh1,499/-.
Speaking at the awards ceremony, Telkom Kenya chief executive officer, Dominique Saint-Jean thanked dealers and other partners for their continued dedication and hard work.
He commented on plans by the company to strengthen their partnerships with dealers: "..The company has been working towards improving dealer relations through: regular meetings with the dealer association, online business support through the dealer portal and streamlining the internal structures at Telkom Kenya to enhance the support and remuneration that dealers receive from the company."
Each of the dealers receives a motorbike, while the sales agents each get a Samsung DVD player worth Ksh6,000. In addition, the top dealers will also take home Samsung LCD TVs, home theatre systems and a fridge courtesy of Samsung Electronics.
The Samsung B130 handsets were available to subscribers in major towns and cities of the country.
Dominique Saint-Jean added: “I wish to assure you that Telkom Kenya is committed towards enabling dealers excel in their business. We continue to work on improving our network; new products and more attractive offers are also in the pipeline and these will contribute to increased sales for your outlets.”
The Samsung B130 from Orange Mobile, with Swahili menu as one of its outstanding features, was a hit because it was affordable and a majority of Kenyans use Kiswahili as their first language.
Telkom Kenya said the release of the highly subsidised handsets to the Kenyan market helped to boost their mobile telephony penetration rates. Kenya is among the rapidly growing mobile markets in Africa.
Among the top dealers that scooped the awards included Quadco 33, Pinnacle Communications, Air Networks, Hewani Wireless, Vutawire, Hotlink Connections, Alphasource and Fones Direct. Others who emerged as winners of the sales agents' category included Paul Kimani, Mary Wanjiru, Sarah Wanjiru, Ahmed Hassan, Lucy Mburu, Mohamed Amin, Wilson Njenga, Margaret Ngugi, Judith Nyatindo and Albanus Kioko.
