Impact Series | Tesh Durvasula on the African data centre opportunity

Loading player...
Africa Data Centres’ newly appointed CEO, Tesh Durvasula, says investment in ICT in Africa is creating nearly boundless opportunities for growth.
Investments in new undersea cables, terrestrial fibre networks and data centres – the latter led by companies like ADC – is helping meet fast-expanding demand from a youthful African population that is coming online for the first time.
Speaking on TechCentral’s new Impact Series technology show, Durvasula explains why he thinks population trends are fuelling infrastructure investments in ICT.
He unpacks the investments that Africa Data Centres, fresh with funding from the US International Development Finance Corporation through its parent, Cassava Technologies, is making on the continent – including expansion into Egypt, Morocco, Senegal and Morocco.
In the interview, Durvasula also talks about:
* His career background and how he came to Africa Data Centres;
* How Cassava Technologies is structured and how Africa Data Centres works with other companies in the group;
* The size of Africa Data Centres today and its plans to build new data centres across Africa;
* Why new data centre builds are becoming increasingly focused around population centres rather than centres of biggest GDP;
* The power-supply challenges associated with building data centres on the continent;
* How new submarine cables like Equiano are going to change the ball game; and
* Technology trends driving cloud adoption in Africa.
Don’t miss the discussion.
15 Sep 2022 English South Africa Technology · Business

Other recent episodes

TCS | Pick n Pay’s Enrico Ferigolli on Penny, the AI that shops for you

Pick n Pay has switched on an AI shopping companion called Penny inside its asap! app, and in this episode of the TechCentral Show, retail executive for omnichannel Enrico Ferigolli takes editor Duncan McLeod through what it does and why it matters. Built on Google's Gemini models, Penny lets customers…
2 Jul 23 min

TCS+ | How Tracker is turning vehicle data into business strategy

Vehicle tracking has come a long way from its origins as a stolen vehicle recovery tool. Today, the data generated by connected fleets – covering driver behaviour, fuel consumption, route efficiency and real-time events – has elevated telematics from an operational afterthought to a boardroom conversation. In this episode of…
1 Jul 13 min

TCS+ | IBM Bob: an AI-powered ‘development partner’ for the enterprise

It’s been roughly 18 months since AI researcher Andrej Karpathy coined the term “vibe coding” – using natural language alongside AI tools to write and deploy code – and the market for AI coding assistants has grown rapidly since. IBM’s entry into this space is Bob, an AI-powered development assistant…
30 Jun 22 min

Watts & Wheels S1E6: ‘A flawless Alfa and a bakkie that divides’

Episode 6 of Watts & Wheels – TechCentral’s electric motoring show – sees hosts William Kelly and Duncan McLeod wade into the most opaque corner of the South African car market: tariffs, subsidies and what they really cost the people buying the cars. William opens with a deep dive into…
17 Jun 1 hr 15 min

Watts & Wheels S1E5: ‘A Bentley of the bush and a car that swims’

After a few months away, Watts & Wheels returns for the fifth episode of season 1, with William Kelly in studio and Duncan McLeod dialling in from the Southern Cape. Watch episode 5 now In episode 5, William and Duncan dive into: • The new Suzuki Across, an entry-level SUV…
8 Jun 1 hr 01 min