Zimbabwean businessman Strive Masiyiwa says that he is in the process of building Nigeria’s biggest data centre. The London-based billionaire, who made his fortune in telecommunications with his Econet Grroup, said that Liquid Telecoms, an Econet Group subsidiary, has purchased a 5-acre piece of land in Lagos, where the facility, one of the largest structures in the city would be constructed. The centre to be named ADC Atlantic, is a $100 million investment.
“A few years ago, ADC was just a single facility in Nairobi, Kenya. It was not a company, but as my team and I watched what was happening we realised it should become a separate company. We hired experts from around the world, and brought them together. We then began to expand the business by inviting investors. In this regard, I’m kicking off a new revolution in the next phase of technology. What is important is not the Data Centres but the technologies that will be unleashed in Nigeria because of this infrastructure. That’s the BIG deal here,” said Mr Masiyiwa.
Mr Masiyiwa said that the group had raised $500m this year and was expecting an investment of $300m from the United States government’s International Development Finance Corporation. He said that the funds will allow ADC to expand its facilities in South Africa and Kenya, and also build new facilities in Egypt, Ghana, and Morocco.