Despite accounting for just 0.6 % of global data centre capacity, Africa is rapidly closing the gap. Corporate cloud spending is projected to grow by 25 – 30 % annually as enterprises embrace hybrid cloud strategies that combine hyperscale platforms with local colocation facilities. While South Africa remains the continent’ s most mature data centre market, with the largest presence of hyperscalers and colocation providers, demand is accelerating in Kenya, Nigeria, Egypt and Morocco, where digital economies are expanding at pace.

Jeevan Thankappan Managing Editor

Historically, many African organisations relied on cloud infrastructure hosted in Europe. However, that model is now changing. More than 40 African countries have introduced data protection legislation, while governments in markets such as Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa increasingly require sensitive data to remain within national borders. Compliance, data sovereignty and the need for low-latency services are now driving investment in local infrastructure.

Although connectivity, once a major challenge, has improved dramatically through new subsea cables and expanding terrestrial fibre networks, power remains the industry’ s biggest obstacle. AI workloads demand dense computing environments, advanced cooling and resilient energy infrastructure. In this context, Africa’ s abundant renewable energy resources present a unique opportunity to build sustainable, AI-ready data centres.

With a proposed US $ 60 billion Africa AI Fund and growing public and private investment, the continent has an opportunity not merely to consume digital services, but to build the infrastructure that will power its own AI-driven future.

In this edition, we feature the transformation journey of Kenya-based hospitality giant Sarova Group, which has migrated from on-premises infrastructure to cloud, demonstrating how cloud transformation extends far beyond technology to become a catalyst for business modernisation. By moving to a centralised cloud platform, Sarova has improved data consistency, strengthened governance and given management a unified view of operations across its portfolio.

With a secure, scalable digital foundation now in place, Sarova’ s CIO explains how the Group is well positioned to adopt AI, automation and personalised guest experiences as part of its long-term Digital Transformation strategy.

In forthcoming issues, we will bring you more stories showcasing how Digital Transformation is reshaping enterprises across Africa.

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INTELLIGENT CIO AFRICA

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