Zimbabwean billionaire Strive Masiyiwa’s Cassava Technologies appoints Tesh Durvasula as CEO for Africa Data Centers

Cassava Technologies, a pan-African technology leader founded by Zimbabwean businessman Strive Masiyiwa in the United Kingdom, has appointed Tesh Durvasula as the new CEO of Africa Data Centers, the continent’s largest carrier-neutral data center provider.

Tesh Durvasula, president and CEO of CyrusOne, will take on the leadership role to drive growth, innovation and strategy for Cassava Technologies’ data centers to meet Africa’s accelerating demand for data and digital infrastructure, starting this week.

Hardy Pemhiwa, president and CEO of Cassava Technologies, stated that following the completion of a $300-million funding with the U.S. IDFC and a recent $90-million equity investment by the International Finance Corporation, it was critical that the company scale up its management team.

Durvasala, who has been a leader at CyrusOne, a Texas-based carrier-neutral data center provider, for over nine years, is an experienced technology and real estate industry executive with a 25-year track record of successful leadership and value creation in the digital infrastructure sector.

He is expected to lead Africa Data Centers as the company seeks to increase value while rapidly expanding its footprint of hyper-scale data centers throughout Africa, with a plan to add 10 more data centers in Africa’s top 10 economic centers.

In response to Durvasula’s appointment, Masiyiwa, executive chairman and founder of Cassava Technologies, stated that the new CEO’s appointment aligns with the company’s expansion and growth plans.

Durvasula said: “I am extremely pleased to be joining Africa Data Centres and Cassava Technologies, especially now that Africa has become one of the world’s fastest-growing data usage regions.”

“I believe we are well-positioned to make a significant contribution to Africa’s rapidly developing digital ecosystem,” he added.

In November, Africa Data Centers opened a 10.65-megawatt data center facility in Lagos, Nigeria, nearly two months ago, making it the company’s single largest data center in Africa outside of South Africa.

The new LOS1 Data Center was built to strengthen data infrastructure and drive technology-driven solutions in West Africa. It will enable Africa Data Centers’ hyper-scale customers to deploy digitization solutions in the region.

Nearly two months ago, Africa Data Centers raised R4 billion ($254.6 million) in investment to expand its presence in South Africa, the continent’s most developed economy.

The R4-billion ($254.6 million) investment will be used to increase the IT load at two of its Johannesburg-based data centers from 30MW to 100MW.

In recent times, Masiyiwa’s stake in Zimbabwe-based smart tech group EcoCash Holdings has increased in market value by more than $49 million since the year began, owing to an increase in the valuation of his stake.

The recent gain can be attributed to a double-digit increase in EcoCash Holdings’ shares, as investors increased their buying interest in the company following a recent report revealing a ZWL650-million ($2 million) increase in wallet funding for its mobile money business.