Africa Data Centres (ADC) intends to expand its presence across West and North Africa, the company’s interim CEO, Finhai Munzara, said.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Africa Tech Festival 2024 in Cape Town, Munzara said that while South Africa remains the largest market in terms of scale, the company is looking for more opportunities across the continent due to growing demand for its services.
Munzara said that accelerated cloud adoption and digital transformation positively impact the data centre industry, with a notable shift of workloads from on-premises to third-party data centres.
Munzara said that the entry of international companies into the African data centre market indicates robust growth potential.
“I think it confirms what we’ve always known: that the opportunity is here (Africa), and this is the next wave.
“It’s good for the industry because it also signals to many global customers who want to come that you can host locally in Africa, and there are many different options. I think we will all get our fair share of the additional demand that’s coming.”
Overall, Munzara provided a positive image of the African data centre landscape, highlighting prospects for innovation and growth.
He added that the Cassava Technologies-owned ADC was positioned as a key player in enhancing the region’s digital economy through its existing infrastructure and ongoing expansions.
Munzara said: “We are focusing on building interconnected data centres across the continent. We focus on the continent’s economic hubs.
“We are busy expanding our current facility in Nairobi (Kenya) and in Lagos as well.
“Next to that, we will push further into West Africa and North Africa, where we are looking for opportunities.”
Speaking on key markets, he responded: “From a scale perspective, South Africa remains the biggest market; this is where a lot of big customers and big deployments are.
“From an activity perspective, Nairobi is very interesting. Quite a lot is happening in Nairobi, I think it’s becoming one of the key digital hubs in East Africa.
“Lagos is very attractive; with the kind of population in Nigeria, I think it will be a very interesting market.”
