COVID-19: Europe, Asia, Suffer Scarcity Of Laptops, Look Nigeria For Help

The global coronavirus pandemic has sparked the high-demand for laptops in Nigeria and Sub-Saharan Africa. With the lockdown around the world, Europe, the Middle East and other continents suffered scarcity of devices occasioned by the pandemic which has interrupted supply chains across the globe.

As the gospel of social-distancing and avoiding of mass gatherings are recommended by health workers around the world to contain the novel COVID-19, this has ignited businesses and educational institutions in Europe, Asia and other continents to turn to virtual work in order to fill the vacuum of enterprises and academic pursuits. Thus, many employers and educational instructors have urged staff and students to work and learn from home.

Correspondently, this has led to the increasing demand for laptops and other tools to enable staff and students to be able to turn in productive work using personal laptops. This has also navigated many educational institutions in these countries to embraced e-learning as a way to bridge the gap between tutors and students/pupils while adhering to the lockdown in these countries.

These factors have all combined in causing a scarcity of laptops in these zones; with supply stunted and few available units all being purchased by keen shoppers.

Consequently, attention has turned to Africa and to a larger extent, its biggest market, Nigeria for inventory.

A supply chain specialist based in Germany, Ravi Zack said, ‘‘Businesses have bought up almost all available laptops in Europe for their staff working from home. The benefits of e-learning as a tailor-made solution for the lockdown in most countries has also seen increased demand for these tools. Most professionals and social media users have also considered bigger screens as a better option for a long stay at home against mobile phones. This has seen a massive demand for laptops from other parts of the world, especially Sub-Saharan Africa.’’

Speaking further, Zack revealed that Nigerian businesses with international outlook are being relied on for help in meeting the supply gap in Europe and further afar.

WIth search for a supply chain, Konga, one of Nigeria foremost e-commerce companies had answered enquiries from some of the biggest products merchants in the UK and other parts of Europe.

Reacting to the high demand in Africa, Vipin Shaw, a mega electronics business owner based in Dubai said, ‘‘Konga has been identified as a credible outpost with the capacity to retain huge inventory which could come in handy to bail out a lot of people in Europe.’’

‘‘In fact, few international computer OEMs had recommended Konga as one of the structured sources that could be of assistance. TD Africa, another Nigerian-based tech firm, was also mentioned as a reliable HP partner which could
be in a position to make some stock available.’’

What Konga Vice President Said

Reacting to the claim, Vice President, Konga Offline, Kalu Johnson said, ‘‘Yes, Nigerians are not heavy on e-learning and we will make more money selling these devices over there. However, we are not so keen to push these devices abroad as we also have thousands of Nigerians who are in need of these PCs and laptops. Same goes for schools, businesses and other establishments in Nigeria.

‘‘The Federal Government is enforcing a lockdown and the Ministry of Education has also urged educational institutions to go online to continue teaching and learning. Millions of Nigerians are also working from home this period. If we offload these devices overseas, who knows when we will be able to achieve such inventory capacity to serve the local needs, especially as no one has an idea when the COVID-19 crisis will end,’’ he said.

Nigeria is currently looking to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic as confirmed cases rise across the country.