SAP To Invest $450mn In MENA

Global software firm SAP AG has announced that it will invest Dhs1.65 billion ($450 million) in the MENA region over the next four years to up-skill local talent and increase growth. The plan includes recruiting more than 500 additional employees, opening several new offices and expanding the company’s partner ecosystem and the SAP University Alliances program, the company said in a statement.

SAP MENA will also establish a dedicated “Training and Development Institute” that aims to certify 2,000 new consultants within the next four years.

“The MENA market is remarkable in its growth potential, scope and readiness to innovate, and we strongly believe that now is the right time to take our operations and engagement to the next level,” SAP’s chief financial officer and board member, Werner Brandt said in the statement.

The firm expects to “significantly grow its MENA revenues” by 2015, and establish the region as one of the company’s top-10 growth markets globally, it said. A recent study by IT intelligence and market advisory firm IDC found that SAP had a 37 per cent market share in the region’s enterprise application software (EAS) market.

In 2011, SAP’s global software revenue increased 25 per cent to EUR4 billion and IFRS total revenue rose14 percent to EUR14.2 billion.