Author: Akin Naphtal

Paystack, a leading payment technology company, has unveiled Zap, its first consumer-focused application designed to make bank transfers faster and more convenient. The company’s CEO, Sola Akinlade, announced the launch during a special event Unlike traditional neo-banks, Zap allows users to link their existing bank accounts to facilitate quick transfers. According to Akinlade, the app was developed to ensure bank transfers are completed in under 30 seconds, focusing solely on enhancing transfer speed and efficiency. “We wanted to create a product that allows Nigerians to start and finish bank transfers in under 30 seconds,” Akinlade explained during the launch event.…

Rack Centre, a leading carrier-neutral data center operator, is set to commission its new 12-megawatt Lagos data hub on April 10, 2025, in a move that marks a significant milestone for West Africa’s digital infrastructure. The $120 million Tier III facility, known as LGS2, will expand Rack Centre’s capacity to meet the increasing demand for data services in Nigeria and across the region. The commissioning ceremony will host Bosun Tijani, Nigeria’s Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, and Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Governor of Lagos State, among other key industry stakeholders. The LGS2 data centre will add 3,240 square meters of white…

Visa has announced plans to establish a data center infrastructure in Nigeria, reinforcing its commitment to supporting the country’s growing digital economy. The announcement was made during a courtesy visit to the State House in Abuja by Mr. Andrew Torre, Visa’s Regional President for Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (CEMEA). Torre highlighted Visa’s substantial investments in Nigeria and its plans to introduce advanced technologies to enhance digital payment solutions. “Visa has been making investments and will continue to make these investments in Nigeria. The planned data center infrastructure will bring new technologies that will strengthen the…

Open Access Data Centres (OADC), a subsidiary of the WIOCC Group, has announced plans to expand its Lagos data center to 24 megawatts by 2027, a project estimated to cost $240 million. The expansion is part of a broader $500 million investment plan, first unveiled in 2021, to develop data centre infrastructure across Africa. Located in Lekki, OADC’s Lagos facility serves as the landing station for Google’s Equiano subsea cable in Nigeria. The data center, which became operational two months ago, is currently running at 1.5 megawatts of its planned capacity. The company plans to complete the expansion in phases,…

At the core of Dar es Salaam, a new chapter in Tanzania’s digital development is emerging. Wing Africa, a leader in the continent’s digital transformation, has unveiled the second phase of its state-of-the-art data centre—an ambitious $50 million investment poised to reshape the nation’s technological landscape. At the launch ceremony held in the bustling Mbezi Industrial Area, Wing Africa CEO Anton Volianskyi emphasized the facility’s strategic importance in meeting Africa’s growing demand for advanced data processing and cloud services. The new Tier 3 data center, now the most connected in Tanzania, links with 13 operators and is designed to deliver…

Google’s newly established cloud region in Johannesburg represents an R2.5-billion ($137m+) investment into South Africa, marking a significant milestone in the continent’s digital and technological landscape. The scale of the investment was highlighted by South African data management and analytics company Tregter, which praised the development as a transformative leap for both South Africa and the wider African continent. “This infrastructure investment marks a giant step forward in business and technology transformation, not only for South Africa but for the entire continent,” said Ferdinand Steenkamp, Tregter’s co-founder. “With this new cloud region, Africa now has access to the best data…

Verizon has introduced Verizon Business Assistant, an AI-powered text messaging tool designed to help small businesses automate customer interactions and enhance customer engagement. The new tool provides instant responses to common customer queries, learns from interactions over time, and seamlessly connects customers to a live employee when necessary. Verizon says the tool aims to deliver faster, more efficient customer service while reducing the need for human involvement. Key features of Verizon Business Assistant include: -Automated responses to frequently asked questions-Live employee handoff for complex inquiries-Continuous learning to improve accuracy over time-Support for both SMS and MMS messagingAn insights dashboard to…

Meta, in partnership with Data Science Africa, has introduced the Llama Impact Grant, a new initiative aimed at supporting startups and researchers across Sub-Saharan Africa. The grant, part of Meta’s global Llama Impact Grants program, will provide $20,000 to fund projects that leverage Llama, Meta’s open-source large language model (LLM), to tackle the region’s unique social and economic challenges. The initiative underscores Meta’s commitment to advancing Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a tool for driving innovation, economic growth, and scientific breakthroughs in sectors like healthcare, agriculture, and education. Empowering African InnovationBalkissa Ide Siddo, Meta’s Public Policy Director for sub-Saharan Africa, highlighted…

Oracle has announced a $5 billion investment over the next five years to expand its cloud infrastructure in the United Kingdom, supporting the government’s ambitions for AI-driven growth and digital transformation. The investment aims to provide businesses and public services with access to advanced AI, multi-cloud, and sovereign cloud solutions, fostering innovation across key sectors such as healthcare, finance, defence, retail, and manufacturing. Peter Kyle MP, Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, welcomed the move, describing it as a significant boost to the UK’s leadership in artificial intelligence. “The UK is determined to lead the world in AI…

Vertiv has launched the CoolLoop Trim Cooler, a new cooling solution designed to enhance air and liquid cooling applications for AI and high-performance computing (HPC) data centers. The CoolLoop Trim Cooler supports hybrid-cooled and liquid-cooled environments, offering advanced thermal management in diverse climate conditions. According to Vertiv, the new system can deliver up to a 70% reduction in annual cooling energy consumption through a combination of free-cooling and mechanical operation, while providing 40% space savings compared to traditional cooling systems. With cooling capacities of 2.6MW and 3MW in air-cooled configurations, the unit can manage fluctuating supply water temperatures up to…