Innovations such as Sony World and the Sony Innovation Fund are driving the company’s strategy in Africa, says Managing Director, Sony Middle East and Africa (MEA), Jobin Joejoe.
How long have you personally been with Sony?
My journey with Sony started back in 2007. In the last 18 years I have come up the ranks within the company. I started off as country manager for UAE. I was based in Dubai then I moved to Egypt as Chief Representative of Egypt where I was in Cairo for three years. I came back and took over as head of sales for GCC Levant Region, then in 2018 I was promoted as sales director for the Middle East. In 2022 I took over as Deputy Managing Director for Sony Middle East and Africa and in April 2024, I took over the current position as the Managing Director of Sony Middle East and Africa.
Have you been located in Dubai most of the time or have you moved around?
For 15 years I have been based in Dubai with three years in Cairo but I keep travelling. I would say that for more than half the month I am travelling across countries in the Middle East and Africa as well as the Central Asia region.
How exactly does the hub-and-spoke model work?
Primarily we have our regional headquarters operating in Dubai. Out of this we cater to the entire region of the Middle East, Africa as well as the Central Asia region. We cover almost 70 countries from Dubai and our in-house logistics and warehousing operations is based at the Jebel Ali Free Zone in Dubai, which is one of the largest supply-chain operations that Sony has globally. We take care of a huge territory. Depending on the dynamics of how each market behaves, we decide on our go-to strategy for each market. There are certain markets where we operate directly with retailers, there are others we operate through distributors.
Sony MEA’s location at the Jebel Ali Free Zone in Dubai allows it to seamlessly service one of the the company’s largest supply-chain operations globally.
For example, a direct to retail operation would be a country like Kuwait. A distributor operation would be markets like UAE or Qatar where we have distributors managing the business for us. And then we have hybrid markets like South Africa where we do a certain portion of our business directly with retailers and a certain portion of our business through distributors.
This is further complemented by our direct-to-customer strategy (the D2C strategy) which is primarily our e-commerce operations. This is where we have Sony World established in certain markets like UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain, which is complemented by offline store showrooms. It’s a mix. Depending on the dynamics of the market, we decide how to approach each of the markets.
Is Sony World a retail outlet?
Yes, Sony World is a showroom as well as an e-commerce platform. Together with the online platform, we have stores operating in the same structure as Sony showrooms.
How many Sony Worlds do you have in Africa?
Sony World’s e-commerce strategy is a recent initiative, launched just last year. The first in Africa was opened in Morocco in February 2025 and our next target market is South Africa. Over the past year, we’ve successfully expanded our presence in the UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. Our current focus is on launching in South Africa.
Those are Sony-owned operations?
Completely, together with the e-commerce platform. We have our partners in each of the respective countries that takes care of the backend in terms of stock delivery or in terms of the payment management but in terms of how the website is run, it is managed by us centrally from Dubai.
How do you see your role as MD of Sony MEA?
When I took over as the deputy Managing Director of Sony MEA two years ago, I was overseeing key operations. I expanded the business across the Middle East and Africa and Central Asia regions as well as stabilised our sales and marketing platforms towards achieving the three Rs, which is Reality, Realtime and Remote.
Today as Managing Director I continue to oversee the overall operations of the business and our strategy remains the same – to accomplish our final goal of increasing customer lifetime value by providing innovative products to meet customer needs.
How extensive is Sony’s African footprint?
To be very frank it’s a significant presence – most of Africa is covered in some way or other. We have a presence in most African countries but in terms of direct-to-retail operations or distributor operations, we are still present in a significant number of countries.
There are several countries that are big for us: South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Morocco, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Tanzania, Mauritius and Seychelles. In a few countries, it is a case of trading from Dubai. Most of the big countries are all covered either through direct-to-retail or through distributors and the smaller countries are catered to from Dubai.
And am I correct to say that the Sony World is something you’re looking at as a means of expanding further or going deeper into markets?
Yes. The Sony World concept was conceptualised from the need to understand our customers better; where we can actually communicate with our customers directly to understand what their requirements are. How can we fulfil their requirements by bringing in innovative products? The entire gambit of the creation of Sony World was to have a direct contact with customers. With the data of customers, we can see the kind of uses that they have of our products. That helps us in terms of recommending products and it helps us create more value for customers.
The entire concept of Sony World is to have a direct communication with our end customers.
What are your key priorities?
Considering the size of the region, our key priority has always been enhancing our operational efficiency and stabilising our supply chain. This is critical for us in terms of ensuring that our customers get the right products at the right time. Most of these markets are very dynamic and keep changing.
All of our strategies are primarily about rewarding brand loyalty through unique product offerings at a competitive price and bringing the latest products into the region at the same time as the global launch. This speaks to stabilising our supply chain operations.
What are your long-term goals for Sony in the region?
In terms of a broader vision, our goal is to continue pioneering new frontiers as a creative entertainment company where we closely work with creators to bring innovative experiences to our audiences, whether this is through immersive gaming, high-quality audio-visual experiences or breakthrough innovations in digital storytelling. Something we have been focusing on is to work with creators in various fields to understand their requirements for growing the entertainment business across Africa.
What is a creator in terms of what you’re saying? Is that someone sitting alone at his or her computer or is that a big company like DStv?
When we say creators it’s a mix of both, but today the focus is more on individuals who are specialising in their particular field. It could be in the field of gaming where we have gamers creating or publishers who are publishing games. It could be content creators who could be working out of a home or an office; it’s a broad spectrum. It covers entertainment or it could be people in the music industry space. We look at bringing in products that enhance what we are doing and portray their work to audiences in a much better way.
I have read about events that you hold. Is that where you make contact with creators?
That’s true. We hold a lot of events in terms of Alpha workshops, which form part of our Sony event calendar. We host multiple events where we invite creators and it moves from city to city. We look at inviting all the local content creators in those areas to join our workshop, to share with us their experiences and we introduce our products to them. We show them how their workflow could be made easier and then we build that relationship with them. We have a database of content creators from across the region today who can communicate with us directly. We keep on interacting with them to understand their needs and to provide solutions to cater to their needs.
That’s very exciting because in a sense you’re also supporting SMMEs at the same time, aren’t you?
That’s very true. Last year we established the Sony Innovation Fund Africa to support the growth of the entertainment business in Africa through key collaborations in the gaming/music/movie and content distribution sectors. One of our first investments was in Carry1st which is the region’s leading game publisher as well as a digital-commerce platform.
Have you put a number to the fund?
We started off the fund with an initial seeding of $10-million. Basically, it’s a fund to support early startups in the entertainment business. Depending on how the onboarding works and how much traction comes out of it, the size of the fund could keep increasing.
Which products are driving your business at the moment?
In Africa our primary focus is audio and content creation. With the rise of local artists and the breakthrough success of genres like Amapiano, Bacardi and Hip Hop this has shaped the way music is consumed. We have launched our Power Sound series which includes wireless battery-operated speakers and noise-cancelling headphones, which are perfect for music lovers. Our products can be taken to the beach, to braais as well as to karaoke nights.
The other key focus we have is on content creation and in South Africa we lead the segment with our Alpha range of cameras. Recently we have also tied up in South Africa with Open Window, a leading creative-arts institution, to further nurture local talent.
The key focus for Africa then, is audio, from personal audio to home audio. The second one is digital imaging which is to do with content creation. These are the two segments that we look at very strongly when it comes to an Africa focus.
Do you encourage innovation within the company as well?
At Sony we embrace the ideas of each and every individual and foster a space where innovation and creativity can flourish to carry forward Sony’s purpose. This is primarily to fill the world with emotions through the power of creativity and technology.
Recognising the importance of inclusivity and innovation, we also introduced a Women in Technology award to honour female researchers across multiple disciplines who have contributed significantly in their field. This is apart from the other awards like our Sony CEO Innovation Award. This is all done to recognise individuals who support creativity and innovation within the organisation.
Is there an innovation coming soon that we should look out for?
Innovation is something that has always been at the forefront of our business, as is understanding the requirements of customers. It is a cycle that we keep repeating. When we feel that there is a need for a new product or new technology to be introduced into the market, Sony is always at the forefront. Every year you will find a lot of products that Sony introduces, be it new televisions, new audio products or new cameras. We have a product cycle that is put into place to meet the needs of every customer.
Obviously, a company like Sony sees AI as an opportunity rather than a threat but would I be correct in saying that that wouldn’t be part of your core business? Would you be partnering with others in developing AI, or do you have dedicated teams looking at AI?
Sony has always seen AI as an opportunity and it’s one of the key areas that drives our competitiveness when it comes to our products. But it doesn’t stop at products; AI is something that we use internally for enhancing our day-to-day operations.
In terms of your question, it works both ways for us. We do partner with other companies and individuals but at the same time we have a very strong in-house Research and Development team taking care of introducing AI into our products. Most of our key products launched over the last few years have a substantial component of AI. Starting with our TVs we developed a Cognitive Processor XR, which goes beyond AI to analyse images and to reproduce pictures which are similar to what the human eye can see.
Similarly, when it comes to our cameras, the AI capabilities in our cameras help to recognise and track fast-moving objects be it humans, animals or even vehicles. It supports auto-focus and auto-exposure so that photographers or videographers don’t miss key moments.
Sony has always seen AI as an opportunity and it’s one of the key areas that drives our competitiveness when it comes to our products
Additionally, we have also taken a proactive approach by developing our own Enterprise LLM (Large Language Model) which is a secure web application designed to help our employees safely explore generative AI while enhancing their AI literacy. This is something that has been developed in-house and is available to over 100 00 employees of Sony across the globe.
How would you describe your leadership style?
I strive to create a form of visionary leadership focussed on fostering creativity and diversity. Our people philosophy of “Special You, Diverse Sony” bridges the interaction between innovation and creativity by nurturing open-mindedness and collaboration to mutually deliver and pave the way forward.
What is being done to make Sony a more sustainable company in line with the global search for carbon zero?
Delivering innovation for an accessible future always stands at the forefront of every business of Sony and we promote a two-step model that involves responsibility and contribution. In 2010 we announced our long-term environmental plan, Road to Zero, to achieve a zero-environment footprint by 2050. Just over a year ago this was advanced by 10 years to 2040. Currently the target for Sony is to achieve a zero-environment footprint by 2040. Additionally, when it comes to sustainability initiatives, in most of the packaging of our products recycled packaging materials is used.
Over and above this we have created our own high-quality recycled plastic called Sorplas. It is basically a high-quality recycled plastic that has been developed in-house which is being used in most of our products today, reducing the dependency on virgin plastic. There are many initiatives being done internally within Sony to achieve this road to zero by 2040.
Finally, what excites you most about the future?
We are in a rapidly changing world where I believe the barriers of physical and virtual reality will blend soon due to the usage of artificial intelligence, machine learning as well as robotic-process automations. At CES 2025, the major international tech event, Sony introduced a Creative Entertainment Vision, which is a long-term vision of where we want us to be over the next 10 years. We look at achieving this through collaborations with creators to deliver Kando that inspires and connects people in ways never imagined before.
*Note: “Kando” is a Japanese word roughly translated to be the sense of awe and emotion you feel when experiencing something beautiful and amazing for the first time.
