Hewlett Packard has selected six local companies to be the official and authorised partners in Ethiopia to sell HP’s products, including the new Laser Jet Printer 1100, it announced Thursday, June 3, 2010, at the Sheraton Hotel.

The six companies include Amultech Plc, Jupiter Trading, Snap Computer, System Technology (Sys Tech) Plc, Net Trading Plc, and Laser Computer Trading. HP selected these companies based on the HP products they sold, the training they provided to customers, the performance of services to customers, and the feedback received from customers, Sherifa A. Hady, Image and Printing Group channel sales manager of HP Africa, told Fortune.

The LaserJet Printer 1100 stands apart from other HP printers in that it works by “plug and print.” It allows customers to begin printing in less than two minutes by simply connecting a net book, note book, or desktop computer to the printer with a USB cable without the requirement of a CD, according to the company’s promotion. HP boasts that the new machine saves up to 72pc of power consumption by automatically turning itself off and on.

HP also unveiled the HP Scan Jet Professional 1000 mobile scanner and two HP colour LaserJet professional series printers, CP 5225 and CP 4020.

Her company was concerned with the growing counterfeiting in Ethiopia and Africa, Hady said during the launch. Counterfeit print cartridges for HP’s LaserJet and inkjet printers are a global problem, according to her, but are worse in Africa. The counterfeiters pack fake products in original or faked HP boxes and try to pass them off as originals to customers. Since late 2008, 150,681 fake products and components have been caught by local law enforcement authorities in Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa, she said.

“I urge people to purchase the HP products from the six authorised distributors to get genuine products from HP,” Hady said.

The company wanted to strengthen its market in Ethiopia because of the country’s huge population and its GDP, which is the fifth fastest growing in the world, she said.

“There is a big market for HP products in Ethiopia,” said Geremew Belaye, general manager of Sys Tech.

His company has been annually renewing its partnership agreement with HP since 2007.

HP was founded in 1939 by Stanford University classmates, Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard. It employs 321,000 people in 80 countries.