INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Data Centres
Investments to boost the
digitalisation of East and
Southern Africa
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trends in terms of the growth of data usage
and storage requirements,” said James
Byaruhanga, General Manager, Raxio Data
Centre Ltd. “Businesses in Uganda are
seeing their data requirements become
increasingly more sophisticated and
subject to data sovereignty compliance
rules that necessitate local data storage
and processing. These dynamics, coupled
with the expansion ambitions of some of
the world’s biggest companies who are
either already active in or looking to expand
into the East African market, is driving the
commercial need for data centres.”
F
irst Brick Holdings, a Roha Group
company, has announced plans for
multiple investments to boost the
digitalisation of East and Southern Africa
with the funding and development of several
data centres across the region. These data
centres will open up new opportunities for
financial services, governments and small to
medium enterprises (SMEs) by addressing
their mission-critical needs for data storage,
business continuity and disaster recovery
and create a network of data centres able
to accommodate international and regional
customers in state-of-the-art facilities.
“Economic growth in East Africa is averaging
between 5 to 10% across the region,”
said Robert Mullins, Executive Director at
First Brick Holdings. “When combined with
parallel trends in digitalisation and content
consumption, we are seeing annual data
usage and associated storage requirements
increasing by 20 – 30%.
“From mission-critical enterprise services
to e-government initiatives, the Digital
Transformation of East Africa is being held
back by the lack of secure, scalable, reliable,
low latency data storage solutions. By
www.intelligentcio.com
leading investment in, and development
of, data centres in the region, we are
unlocking this latent demand in the market
and removing a significant barrier to the
continued Digital Transformation of this
exciting and vibrant market.”
First Brick Holdings’ initial investment is
in Uganda, where the digital economy is
accelerating at such a rate that there is an
immediate requirement for facilities to store
and process data safely and securely.
Raxio Data Centre Ltd is delivering Uganda’s
first state-of-the-art Tier III, carrier-neutral data
centre in the Namanve Industrial and Business
Park. Due to open in the middle of next year,
the data centre will have capacity for up to 400
racks, delivering 1.5MW of IT power.
The Raxio data centre will be a key pillar to
Uganda’s digital economy, reducing the cost
of connectivity in the country and attracting
global cloud service providers, content
distribution networks and regional carriers.
“Data centre installations in East Africa are
lagging behind other emerging economies,
despite the region facing similar underlying
The desire for fast, affordable and safe
digitalisation in Uganda is reflective of a
broader need for data centre installations
across East Africa. First Brick Holdings plans
to invest in several more facilities across
the continent, expecting five Tier III data
centres to be live by 2022. With a total
project investment of around US$50 million,
First Brick Holdings will address the latent
demand for data centre infrastructure in
various local markets.
“Our commitment to invest in this much-
needed infrastructure is a fantastic opportunity
for all players in the digital economy, lowering
the overall cost of storing data and of
operating increasingly complex and mission
critical IT equipment,” said Mullins.
“These state-of-art facilities will also serve
as enablers, bringing access to local cloud
computing closer to enterprises and content
closer to consumers.
“Not only that, but it will also contribute
significantly to skilled job creation and tax
revenue generation. East and Southern
Africa is primed for these data centres and
they will allow the region’s businesses to
better compete on a global level.” n
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