The regional arm of Japanese firm Canon Inc, Canon Middle East, has launched a subsidiary in Kenya which will oversee seven countries in East and Central Africa.

The marketer of printers, cartridges and toners believes this will strengthen its position across the rapidly growing markets of eastern Africa.

Business Daily reported that the company’s entry into the Kenyan market is expected to test the dominance of HP especially in that market.

According to the daily, having a dedicated entity in Kenya is meant to further reinforce the company’s ‘closer to customer’ strategy and offer enhanced support services to partners and customers across East Africa, which was previously served by Canon South Africa.

“The establishment of Canon Kenya Limited will broaden our ability to invest in the African markets. The new office in Kenya is strategically positioned to bring us closer to our customers and partners across the key markets in East Africa,” Business Daily quoted Anurag Agrawal, the managing director of Canon Middle East, as saying.

Canon Kenya would provide marketing and channel development services in Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda, Somalia, Eritrea, Rwanda and Burundi.

International research firm IDC statistics indicate that between April and June 2012, Canon controlled 18 percent of the ink-jet market sales totalling Sh197.2 million in Kenya.

This is the market segment that covers small printers with single and multiple functions.

Kenya has increasingly become a magnet for firms of technological bent. Apart from Canon, other IT firms like IBM, Bharti Airtel, Google, HP and Samsung have set up regional offices in Nairobi.