Themed “The Power of Convergence,” the summit brought together leading figures from across the global data and connectivity ecosystem to confront Africa’s infrastructure bottlenecks – from energy and regulation to talent flight and financing.

Speakers included Bill Kleyman, Chief Executive of Apolo.us and Executive Chair for Data Center Programs at Informa; Guy Zibi, Managing Partner at Xalam Analytics; Dr. Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA); Shayo Olumide, Vice President, Heavy Industries, Telecoms & Technology at Africa Finance Corporation (AFC); Vivek Mittal, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the African Infrastructure Development Association (AFIDA), and Ben Roberts, Principal at Digital Economy Advisors.

Others are Oguche Agudah, Head, Programme, Pan Africa Fund Managers Alliance and pioneer Chief Executive Officer, Pension Fund Operations Association of Nigeria; Hakeem Adeniji-Adele, Deputy Managing Director, eTranzact; Eero Toivainen, Trade Counsellor West Africa, Business Finland; Bukola Ajayi, General Manager, Architecture and Enterprise IT, MTN Nigeria; Akeem Adeshina, Chief Commercial Officer, IHS Nigeria; Roger Shutte, General Manager, Infrastructure & Cloud Engineering, MTN Nigeria; Johnson Agogbua, Chief Executive Officer, Kasi Cloud, and Dr. Ayotunde Coker, CEO of Open Access Data Centress

In his keynote, Bill Kleyman called Africa “one of the world’s fastest-growing digital markets” but warned that energy shortages could choke progress.

“Connectivity is the lifeblood of people. It’s how we live, work and play – and that’s why major organisations are moving aggressively into Africa,” he said.

Kleyman noted that data-center power demand on the continent is growing at 20–25% annually and could reach 8,000 gigawatt-hours. “The industry is at a point where success requires two things: power and bravery,” he said. He added that global AI adoption is raising new challenges – with rack densities climbing from 16 to 60 kilowatts and only about 10% of facilities ready for AI workloads. “Vision without execution is just hallucination,” he told delegates. “Africa has a chance to seize its nugget in this digital gold rush.”

On a panel about scaling to 2,500 MW of capacity, Johnson Agogbua, CEO of Kasi Cloud, warned that talent, not technology, could become the greatest bottleneck. “We’ll solve power and connectivity. But can we train enough people – and keep them here?”

Roger Shutte, General Manager for Infrastructure & Cloud Engineering at MTN Nigeria, echoed the concern: “As we skill people up, how do we enable them to stay, to support local businesses, and to provide the digital sovereignty we require?”

Muhammed Rudman, CEO of the Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria, said IXPN is working to “domesticate content” and reduce reliance on international routes. “Before now, Nigeria’s networks were largely access networks, always reaching out to content abroad. What we’re doing is keeping that content home.”

Other sessions tackled the readiness of Africa’s enterprise and policy landscape for artificial intelligence. Dr. Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi of NITDA joined leaders from MTN, Business Finland, Ouranos Technologies, and Balancing Act to explore how Africa can embed AI responsibly and competitively. Another panel, moderated by Oluwasayo Oshadami of Equinix, brought together Dr. Yele Okeremi of Precise Financial Systems and Hakeem Adeniji-Adele of eTranzact to discuss bridging Africa’s enterprise execution gap.

Opening the summit, Temitope Osunrinde, executive director of Africa Hyperscalers, framed the opportunity and the challenge:

“Africa represents 18% of the world’s population, yet accounts for less than 2% of global data-center capacity and under 1% of compute power. Eighty percent of our data is still hosted offshore.”

He noted that investment momentum is building fast as global vacancy rates fall below 1%, citing subsea cable expansions by Meta and Google, and new builds from Visa, Equinix, Raxio, Digital Realty, and Nvidia.
But he warned that 600 million Africans still lack electricity, even as new data centers consume the equivalent of small cities.

“The challenge is not only to power homes but to power Africa’s digital economy,” Osunrinde said. “Governments must fast-track approvals, open telecom networks to competition, and incentivize renewable energy. Fifty percent of a data center’s cost is equipment – imagine the impact if that could enter Africa tax-free.”

Across the sessions, one message stood out: Africa’s digital revolution will depend not just on capital or technology, but on coordination — between power grids and policy, between talent and regulation, between public vision and private execution.

Other speakers include Otuya Okecha, Chief Executive Officer, FibreSol; Abayomi Adebanjo, Director, Legal, Equinix West Africa, Muhammed Rudman, Chief Executive Officer, Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria; Marco Rebecchi, Country Manager, Nokia, West Africa; Josephine Sarouk, Managing Director, Bayobab; Lanre Kolade, Managing Director, Koltronics Nigeria/former Group Managing Director, Csquared; Gbenga Adegbiji, Chief Executive Officer, Geniserve; Tola Talabi, Chief Executive Officer, Elektron Energy; Roger Shutte, General Manager, Infrastructure & Cloud Engineering, MTN Nigeria; Snehar Shah, Chief Executive Officer, IX Africa Data Centres and Karim Amer, Head of IP Business, North, West & Central Africa, Nokia.

Africa Hyperscalers, host of Hyperscalers Convergence Africa, is a leading pan-African digital infrastructure intelligence and market engagement platform that connects executives, policymakers, and investors to shape the continent’s digital future.

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Held in Lagos, a key center for digital innovation, the conference highlighted the need for a unified strategy to accelerate the continent’s digital transformation.

Temitope Osunrinde, the conference convener, stressed the importance of integrating various digital infrastructure components.

“Subsea cables, tower companies, fiber networks, and satellite internet are all critical elements,” Osunrinde said. “However, without convergence, these elements remain disconnected, hindering our ability to fully leverage digital technology.”

The conference featured over six panel sessions with key stakeholders from across Africa, tackling specific challenges to the continent’s digital progress.

Key issues discussed included power shortages, high energy costs, and limited access to renewable energy sources—significant obstacles for data centers and telecommunications operations.

The lack of robust middle-mile infrastructure was also identified as a barrier to efficient data traffic distribution.

Yemi Okeremi, the chairman of the conference, noted, “Africa’s vast population and immense potential are overshadowed by its digital infrastructure deficit. Despite our efforts, we still lag behind other regions in terms of data center capacity and fiber connectivity.”

Conference participants explored solutions such as collaborative partnerships between governments, private sector companies, and international organizations. Josephine Sarouk, managing director of Bayobab, emphasized the need for supportive policy frameworks that foster competition, innovation, and affordability.

She urged government officials to focus on fostering partnerships, bringing stakeholders together, and creating an enabling environment for investors, despite the complexities of aligning interests across 54 countries.

The potential of emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and blockchain was also discussed. These technologies could enhance resource allocation, improve cybersecurity, and unlock new economic opportunities for Africa.

There was a strong consensus on the urgent need for convergence. Participants agreed that by breaking down silos and collaborating effectively, Africa could leverage its digital infrastructure to drive economic development, enhance social services, and build a more inclusive society.

Investment in subsea infrastructure for resilience was highlighted as crucial. However, greater emphasis on local exchanges and terrestrial infrastructure to minimize downtime during outages was also emphasized.

Wole Abu, CEO of Liquid Intelligent Technologies Nigeria, called for collaboration beyond technical levels, advocating for a unified approach among industry stakeholders to solve these challenges collectively.

Ego Jegede, program manager, Network Investments at Meta, praised the collaboration on the 2Africa project, noting that the model of cooperation among competitors should be replicated for terrestrial corridors to address infrastructure gaps and improve connectivity.

Power emerged as a recurring theme, with operators advocating for advancements in power infrastructure and exploration of alternative sources such as solar, gas, and private power solutions close to data centers.

However, the enabling environment for power projects, particularly around transmission and distribution, was recognized as a significant barrier.

Dr. Krish Ranganath, regional executive at Africa Data Centers, urged for collaboration among industry stakeholders on power and real estate, suggesting that data centers along a geographical axis could work together with independent power producers.

The importance of political will in creating a conducive environment for business was highlighted by Lanre Kolade, chairman of ConnectedCompute, and Adewole Adebisi, head of Operations at Radio Group.

They stressed the need to improve the ease of doing business for both foreign and local investors.

The Hyperscalers Convergence Africa conference has set the stage for action, inspiring stakeholders to commit to building a more connected and prosperous Africa.

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“If not, a lot of companies will run into trouble very soon,” Nnamani stated at the Hyperscalers Convergence Africa held Thursday at the Federal Palace Hotel, Lagos – Nigeria.

The event, themed “The Premier Platform for Driving Africa’s Digital Revolution,” addressed the pressing issues facing the data centre industry in Africa.

Nnamani explained that investments by global data centre players over the past three to four years have introduced funding sources that are not typically available locally. “For them, they are looking at their investment in Africa as part of a global investment,” he stated.

Digital Realty has committed around $2 billion to the African market in recent years, a sum not usually accessible through local banks or equity investments.

“They can do that because they’ve got access to what we call cheaper funds as part of the group; right equity system and some other global entities who have access to be able to get funding, very low, single digit interest rate,” Nnamani explained.

However, he said currency instability is a huge challenge. “You have to import all equipment; a very tiny part of it is in the local currency,” he noted.

This issue is worsened when financial models are based on stable exchange rates. Nnamani provided an example: if a data centre’s pricing is set in US dollars and the naira depreciates, the value of their services in USD can fall sharply.

“If by next year, naira depreciates to 2000 and if you convert back what you charge in Naira back to USD you suddenly find out that you no longer sell your service at $500 but you are now selling it at $300 equivalent,” he warned.

The fluctuation undermines the initial investment assumptions. “The basis where you got investment 100% gets thrown out of the window, not because the customers are not there, not because the metrics under which you went into the business were wrong, but 100% based on the devaluation of the naira,” Nnamani said.

To mitigate this issue, Nnamani suggested that data centres might need to adjust their pricing in local currency in response to currency depreciation. “You are dealing with customers who tell you we can’t afford it. Things are hard right now. So it becomes a chicken and egg situation,” he added.

He stressed that only long-term funding could offer a sustainable solution. “The only way around it is you benchmark your price where, literally, as the naira depreciates, you have to increase your price in the local currency,” he advised.

Nnamani pointed to the urgent need for strategic financial planning and diversified revenue sources in the data centre sector. “My concern is, this is a big concern. I think some of the data centre players are going to run into big problems if they are not already in trouble,” he warned.

He called for long-term, stable funding solutions capable of withstanding exchange rate fluctuations to ensure the sector’s viability and growth.

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