Zimbabwean billionaire Strive Masiyiwa’s Africa Data Centers secures $254.6 million to expand presence in South Africa

Africa’s largest carrier-neutral data center provider, Africa Data Centers, has successfully secured R4 billion ($254.6 million) in investment to expand its presence in South Africa, the continent’s most industrialized economy.

The announcement made by Africa Data Centers CEO Stephane Duproz during a media tour of the state-of-the-art carrier-and cloud-neutral data center facility in Midrand, South Africa.

Africa Data Centers operates as an affiliate of Cassava Technologies, a fiber and telecom solutions group founded by Zimbabwe’s richest man and leading African tech entrepreneur, Strive Masiyiwa.

After securing the R4-billion ($254.6 million) investment, the carrier- and cloud-neutral data center provider disclosed that the funds will be deployed to upscale the IT load at two of its Johannesburg-based data centers from 30MW to 100MW.

The news comes a week after the leading carrier-neutral co-location data center provider began to develop a second data center with an IT load up to 20MW in Nairobi, Kenya. The company’s $200-million investment in the project will double the country’s data center capacity.

To scale its presence in Africa, Africa Data Centers recently secured land to build a fourth data center in Johannesburg within the next two years.

The facility, which will be the fourth in the country, will be its most extensive facility, generating 50MW in data-computing power.

During the media tour, Duproz said the company plans to build 10 hyperscale data centers across Africa over the next two years, including in Nigeria, Kenya, Morocco and Egypt.

He added that the company has set aside $500 million to implement the expansion plans as it moves to double its operational footprint in Africa.

Analysts assessed the market capitalization of Africa Data Centers at $2 billion in 2020. It is expected to reach a 15-percent compound annual growth rate between 2020 and 2026.

Last year, the Masiyiwa-led company disclosed that it had started to construct what the company believed would be Nigeria’s largest data center.

With a net worth of $2.7 billion, Masiyiwa is one of the richest businessmen in Africa.