Currently ranked third in Kenya's local smart devices market behind Tecno and Samsung, Huawei Technologies has announced plans to foster all sectors to improve its market share from the current 14% to 30% within the next five years.

Derek Du, Managing Director of Huawei Technologies Kenya, said the company is investing across its consumer segments to maximise its sales.

In addition to focusing on improving dealings with retailers to help them generate profit, Huawei intends to roll out more devices priced under US$200, and aggressively market the offering.

"Initially, we were focusing on the low-end or high-end segment. But now, our new strategy will allow us to focus on all consumer segments," Du said.

According to Du, Huawei now considers the low-end segment as instrumental in efforts to boost sales and improve market share, and the low-cost, 3G-enabled devices are attractive for this segment.

At the same time, customers in the high-end segment have high purchasing power and Huawei's devices can compete favourably with those of Apple and Samsung.

Du said Huawei now wants to drive both segments concurrently to compete with small and large competitors.

He added that even though the company is still third in the market, its global and local indices are improving.

"In 2015, we had 51% brand awareness globally but this year, we've gotten 71%. In Kenya, we've gotten more than 81% brand awareness. We will continue to increase this and improve our brand visibility in the market. We are also working on improving customers' knowledge about our products. We need to tell more stories about the function of our devices," Du said.