Nokia CEO, Stephen Elop, is expected in Nairobi this week in a meeting to engage with developers among other assignments. Invites to the event were previously being handled through an Eventbrite posting but was immediately pulled down without warning. Now Nokia has been sending invited to developers discretely, we hear.
It is not clear what other assignments Stephen Elop might have in the country but I am sure that it is not that developer meet-up only. Apart from the courtesy calls on senior government officials we will see, I am sure that Elop will be engaging with business leaders and other techies as Nokia engages in PR overdrive after the rumoured high-profile resignations locally.
More: If Nokia Valued the African Consumer, Why Launch Dumb Phones Here
Meanwhile Nokia has fought resignations of its former GM for East and Southern Africa, Ken Oyolla, and given him a global position based in London. Ken has confirmed that he has been appointed the Global Head of Market Activation for Mobile Phones. It seems that Ken is already in London to take up the position.
Ken previously scheduled to resign from Nokia GM for East and Southern Africa position. He was rumoured to be thinking of moving to a competition locally. As the only African General Manager, Nokia was not going to let him go easily lest they be accused of many things. Our post on Ken’s impending resignation draw lots of interest from Nokia with one senior Nokia East and Southern Africa over-heard at a high-profile event complaining how “the Tech Mtaa article drew the interest of Senior Nokia Executives.”
It would be interesting to see if Stephen Elop would ever launch a smartphone in Africa and not those dumb phones we see everyday. The PR people behind Stephen Elop’s visit need not be so secretive and cagey if at all they want honest participation from Kenyan developers.
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