To bridge this knowledge gap, Africa Hyperscalers recently convened a high-level media workshop in Lagos, bringing together journalists and infrastructure heavyweights like Rack Centre, Open Access Data Centres (OADC), and the Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria (IXPN).

The objective: to move the narrative from “internet access” to “infrastructure economics,” especially as Nigeria prepares for an AI-driven industrial shift.

Infrastructure as the ‘New Roads’

Digital infrastructure is no longer a luxury; it is the new “essential utility.” Temitope Osunrinde, executive director of Africa Hyperscalers, noted that subsea cables and data centres are now as critical to national development as roads and ports.

“If Africa is to shape credible narratives that attract long-term investment, the media must understand how these systems work and what it takes to deliver them,” Osunrinde emphasized.

The ‘Last Mile’ Reality: From Subsea to the Street

One of the workshop’s core tracks, led by Adebola Adefarati of Rack Centre and Gbenga Adegbiji of Geniserve, deconstructed the journey of a single byte of data:

The Landing: International bandwidth arriving at subsea cable stations.

The Middle Mile: Metropolitan fibre networks and the engineering hurdles of city-wide deployment.

The Edge: Carrier-neutral data centres that provide the “compute” power for local fintechs and streaming platforms.

The Pillars of the Infrastructure Economy

Reducing Latency: The Battle for Local Traffic

Muhammed Rudman, CEO of IXPN, highlighted a critical “blind spot”: the importance of localising internet traffic. By keeping Nigerian data within Nigerian borders through local peering, the industry can significantly reduce latency (lag) and lower the cost of internet for end-users. This “Digital Sovereignty” is essential for the effective deployment of AI and real-time fintech applications.

Journalism in the Age of AI

The workshop concluded with a session led by Toni Kan of The Media Training Room, on the ethical use of AI in newsrooms.

The workshop concluded with a panel on “The Media’s Powerful Role in Enabling Digital Infrastructure Development in Nigeria, featuring Tayo Fagbule, Bureau Chief, West Africa CNBC; Obinna Adumike, head, Converged Infrastructure, Open Access Data Centres (OADC); Muhammed Rudman, CEO, Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria, and Temitope Osunrinde.

The consensus was clear: while AI can automate reporting, technically informed journalism is required to track infrastructure projects, explain complex financing models, and hold operators accountable.

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.

Osunrinde, who joined Tizeti after twelve years in Africa’s digital infrastructure sector, described his tenure as “an incredible journey,” working alongside CEO Kendall Ananyi and a team committed to bridging the continent’s digital divide.

Under his leadership, Tizeti expanded into new states, forged strategic international partnerships, and delivered year-on-year revenue growth.

“Every challenge was an opportunity to learn, lead, and contribute to bridging Africa’s digital divide,” Osunrinde said. “I am proud to have represented the brand meaningfully and amplified its presence beyond Nigeria.”

Prior to Tizeti, Osunrinde played a pivotal role at MainOne, West Africa’s premier connectivity and data center provider, where he launched wholesale and enterprise connectivity services, helping to establish MainOne as a backbone for internet services across Nigeria and the region.

MainOne, founded in 2010, laid the first privately owned submarine cable connecting West Africa to Europe, transforming bandwidth availability and affordability on the continent.

He also worked at MDXi Data Center, MainOne’s data center subsidiary, where he amplified its data center and cloud service offerings.

In December 2021, MainOne was acquired by Equinix, the world’s largest digital infrastructure company, for $320 million, marking Equinix’s first expansion into Africa and positioning MDXi as a strategic interconnection hub for global and African enterprises.

Osunrinde further consulted at Verraki Africa (a member of Andersen Consulting), advising corporates and governments on technology-driven growth strategies.

His move to Tizeti, he noted, was driven by a deliberate desire to understand the consumer end of the connectivity value chain.

“I knew I lacked firsthand exposure to the consumer end – where the rubber meets the road,” he said. “At Tizeti, I experienced the real challenges ISPs face: backhaul limitations, infrastructure deployment costs, right-of-way bottlenecks, area boys’ fiefdoms, vandalism, and low broadband literacy and purchasing power. But I also experienced the joy of getting previously unconnected people online – where a 30-minute connection once required a full-day trip to town.”

Reflecting on Africa’s broadband landscape, Osunrinde emphasised that connectivity technology should not overshadow the ultimate goal of getting people online. “It doesn’t matter whether connectivity comes via fiber, mobile broadband, satellite, or fixed wireless – what matters is that people are connected.”

While his next move has yet to be officially announced, Osunrinde reiterated his commitment to Africa’s digital transformation.

“There is still so much to be done to improve connectivity in Nigeria and Africa, and I look forward to playing my part in this journey,” he said. “My commitment to Africa’s digital transformation remains stronger than ever. I look forward to creating, collaborating, and supporting initiatives that unlock the continent’s full digital potential.”

His departure comes as Tizeti continues its regional expansion strategy, focusing on solar-powered towers and innovative last-mile connectivity solutions to deepen internet penetration across West Africa.

Yet, while the concept is celebrated, true collaboration in Africa’s digital transformation remains more aspirational than actionable.

Across industries—from telecom operators to governments and financial institutions—there’s a near-universal call to “work together.” But despite years of rhetoric, meaningful cross-sector collaboration remains scarce.

The challenge lies in translating talk into action. Subsea cables spanning continents have been successfully laid—an engineering and financial feat requiring international coordination—yet bottlenecks persist at the national level.

Regulatory red tape, territorial disputes, and fragmented coordination continue to stall progress. Ironically, it’s not the physical infrastructure but these bureaucratic and structural barriers that pose the greatest threat to Africa’s digital future, deepening the digital divide.

The persistent barriers to connectivity

Africa’s digital transformation is still hindered by significant connectivity challenges. Mobile broadband, once a beacon of progress, has slowed noticeably.

According to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), only 37% of Sub-Saharan Africans had internet access in 2023—a glaring gap in a region where mobile phones are ubiquitous—this lack of access limits opportunities in education, healthcare, financial services, and economic empowerment.

Despite technological advancements, infrastructure gaps remain acute in rural areas, where connectivity is sparse or non-existent. High infrastructure costs—exacerbated by currency fluctuations—compounded by complex licensing and exorbitant right-of-way fees continue to obstruct progress.

National policies often conflict, stalling cross-border initiatives and leaving underserved regions behind. Telecom operators, too, tend to focus on commercially viable areas, leaving vast swathes of the continent disconnected.

Beyond infrastructure, challenges such as digital illiteracy, rising cybersecurity risks, and sluggish financing further complicate the picture.

Funders often adopt a “wait-and-see” approach, delaying the investments necessary for widespread digital transformation. These barriers must be addressed head-on if Africa is to unlock its digital potential.

Overcoming infrastructure and regulatory hurdles

A major impediment to building telecommunications infrastructure in Africa is the fragmented regulatory environment.

Telecom operators must navigate inconsistent and often opaque regulations across countries, driving up costs and delaying deployment.

Even basic processes—like securing permits for fibre optics or cell towers—can be delayed by bureaucratic inefficiencies and competing demands from government officials, community leaders, and other stakeholders.

Governments must address these challenges by enacting policies that incentivise investment, streamline regulations, and foster collaboration. Digital infrastructure is the backbone of modern economies, enabling access to global markets, education, healthcare, and essential services.

Policymakers must prioritise creating enabling environments that simplify licensing, reduce fees, and encourage infrastructure sharing, particularly in underserved areas.

Without a clear vision and proactive policy support, the digital divide will only widen, leaving millions on the wrong side of economic and social opportunities.

Equally important is communicating the broader benefits of digital access. Connectivity isn’t just about faster internet; it is a catalyst for economic growth, improved quality of life, and social inclusion.

Bridging the digital divide must be seen as an economic imperative and a matter of social justice, ensuring all Africans can participate in the digital economy.

Telecom operators also have a key role in raising awareness about the dangers of digital exclusion.

While progress has been made in expanding services, more must be done to highlight the risks of leaving people behind in an increasingly digital world.

Policies that promote infrastructure sharing and improve regulatory coherence can help reduce costs and accelerate deployment.

Encouraging collaboration between governments and telecom operators to share resources—such as towers and fibre networks—can ensure broader coverage and lower infrastructure costs, particularly in rural regions.

Some examples of successful collaboration offer a roadmap. Ghana’s government has promoted open-access fibre networks, reducing redundancy and improving efficiency.

Policies supporting 5G rollout through infrastructure sharing have further accelerated progress. At the just-concluded AfricaTech Festival, Solomon Richardson of Ghana’s National Information Technology Agency shared how the government has worked to ensure that rural areas are included in the digital infrastructure agenda by installing core networks and reducing licensing fees for wholesale networks.

Regional frameworks like those developed by ECOWAS also help address cross-border challenges, such as equipment supply and cable resilience, demonstrating the power of coordinated strategies.

Collaboration for financial inclusion

Financial exclusion remains a major barrier to economic participation, with over 66% of adults in Sub-Saharan Africa unbanked.

The lack of access to documentation, credit services, and physical bank branches disproportionately affects rural populations, perpetuating cycles of poverty.

Telecom companies are uniquely positioned to bridge this gap. Partnerships with financial institutions have proven transformative, as seen with Kenya’s M-Pesa, which provides savings, credit, and insurance services to millions.

Leveraging mobile money platforms and customer data, telecom operators can extend financial services to the unbanked, fostering economic inclusion.

Scaling such initiatives requires deeper collaboration. For example, telecoms could share mobile usage data with financial institutions to assess creditworthiness, enabling microloans for those without formal credit histories.

By combining resources and expertise, these partnerships can unlock new opportunities for millions of Africans.

Investing in digital infrastructure

Building telecommunications infrastructure remains costly, particularly in sparsely populated or remote regions. The capital-intensive nature of fibre-optic networks, cell towers, and data centres often makes such investments economically unviable in underserved areas.

Innovative solutions like Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite networks—such as SpaceX’s Starlink and Amazon’s Kuiper Project—offer a promising alternative.

These satellites provide high-speed, low-latency internet, bypassing the logistical challenges of traditional infrastructure.

Pragmatism will be key: whether it’s terrestrial networks or satellite solutions, the focus must remain on connecting as many people as possible as quickly as possible.

Regulatory coordination is key

Regulatory alignment across countries is vital for effective collaboration. Policymakers should streamline licensing, lower fees, and foster public-private partnerships to break down barriers. For instance, Funke Opeke of MainOne highlighted at the AfricaTech Festival how streamlined regulations can attract investment and drive infrastructure expansion.

Regulators can help catalyse growth and development by creating the right environment.

A stronger digital ecosystem for economic growth

Investing in digital infrastructure doesn’t just enable connectivity; it drives growth across industries.

For instance, the collaboration between MainOne, the Lagos State Government, and the Co-Creation Hub to roll out fiber in the Yaba contributed to Lagos’s emergence as a tech hub, enabling startups like Andela and driving ICT’s contribution to GDP.

Also, education, healthcare, and government services all stand to benefit, improving quality of life and reducing inequalities. Initiatives like telemedicine, online education, and e-governance can be game-changers for underserved populations.

Collaboration is essential for Africa to overcome its connectivity and financial inclusion challenges. Governments, telecom operators, and financial institutions must collaborate to streamline regulations, share infrastructure, and leverage data.

The African digital revolution isn’t just about laying cables—it’s about building partnerships that drive inclusive growth and empower millions.

With the right strategies and collaborations, Africa can bridge the digital divide and emerge as a leader in the global digital economy.

The internet was still painfully slow, unreliable, and expensive, with the Mobile Network Operators, and the few WiFI internet service providers that existed at the time.

Thanks to their experience in other countries, the duo believed that organizations and homes in Nigeria required unlimited internet access and thought they could provide it cheaper, and faster than any of the available ISPs at the time. The duo had previously worked on a video-on-demand box but were unable to realize the concept due to the unavailability of unlimited internet at the time.

So, they learned as much as they could about providing internet services, researched various wireless internet technologies, pivoted their idea, and erected the first telecoms tower in the hopes that it would work.

The first tower was built at Friends’ Colony Estate and it worked perfectly. The founders were able to persuade the estate’s occupants to subscribe. Other estates in the area heard about the unlimited internet solution, initially called Friend’s Colony internet, and wanted the service, and this started what eventually became Tizeti.

Today, Tizeti is widening internet access in Africa with solar-powered masts, to deliver the most cost-effective and reliable unlimited internet services. With its focus on renewable energy via solar panels, instead of grid electricity or generators, Tizeti is better able to significantly reduce its operating costs, especially during a period of skyrocketing diesel prices, and pass on these cost-savings to consumers, making it hyper-competitive in terms of subscription costs.

Largely bootstrapped till 2017, when the company got accepted into Y Combinator, the startup accelerator company, and raised a seed round.

By this time, Tizeti had bootstrapped its way to $1m ARR and had five thousand internet users. It was able to raise a seed round of $2.1m, the largest publicly announced round at the time and then launched Express Wi-Fi, with Facebook (now Meta).

Over the next few months, Tizeti increased its coverage with hundreds of thousands of customers connecting daily. It subsequently raised $3m in its Series A financing round from existing investors, which brought its total investment to $5.1m.

Tizeti deployed this funding to upgrade its network infrastructure, improve its customer service, improve its internal processes to keep up with the increasing user data demand and provide a fantastic user experience for its customers.

The Tizeti team had by now, expanded from two at inception, to 50 to about 270 employees in 2017. They acquired a new office, strengthened its partnership with Facebook, via ExpressWifi, and deployed over a thousand hotspot locations in Nigeria, making Tizeti the largest outdoor public WiFi deployed in the nation.

Tizeti’s ExpressWifi users grew 5x to 1.8 million, across over 4,000 retailers, during the pandemic and earned the company a place on Fast Company’s Annual List of the World’s Most Innovative Companies for 2020, as the 6^th Most Innovative Company in Africa. Tizeti also partnered with companies such as DSTV to host the Big Brother Nigeria Season 3 and Battle Ground.

To improve its customer experience, Tizeti upgraded from 802.11n Wifi Access Points to 802.11ac technology to enable it to deliver faster speeds and a better user experience. It also expanded in Lagos by building more towers and ensuring over 80 percent coverage of Lagos to better serve its customers.

In addition to Lagos, Tizeti also has coverage in Edo, Oyo, Rivers, and Ogun states.

In Ghana, Tizeti expanded to five new locations: Adenta, Madina, Spintex, North Kaneshie, and Tema. This expansion allowed the company to extend its coverage to more populated locations in Accra, Kasoa, and Tema and drive the demand for reliable internet connectivity.

In 2019, Tizeti secured 4G LTE spectrum and its voice solution, WifiCall to expand its product offerings and better position for its triple-play ambitions.

WifiCall has since grown almost 4x, from 3.6 million minutes in 2019 to 13.5 million minutes in 2020 as more people relied on its low-priced, unlimited call features to reach their friends, families, and business contacts.

WifiCall is now integrated with a leading CRM provider, Freshdesk, and has launched the voice calling app on Android and IoS.

In line with its focus on accelerating access to affordable broadband connectivity in Africa’s underserved populations, and more recently, due to the increased customer demand for connectivity solutions during the pandemic, Tizeti upgraded its core network infrastructure capacity to 100Gbps, to provide additional capacity to support its services as well as future upgrades and ensure that its customers continue to enjoy high-quality and reliable internet services.

Immediately after this upgrade was concluded, the company’s data consumption increased to over 100,000 Gigabytes a day (100 Terabytes per day), and Tizeti delivered over 38,648 TB (38.648 million GB) in 2021.

To accelerate its efforts toward bridging the digital divide in West Africa, Tizeti has collaborated with several partners, global technology providers, and local players, to ensure that its 50,000+ customers and the 4 million devices are on its network infrastructure.

Some of its partners include Microsoft Corporation (Airband initiative), Nokia, Cambium, MainOne, an Equinix company (fiber infrastructure), and Nomba (formerly Kudi) among many others.

Tizeti announced Nokia’s Fastmile Long Term Evolution technology as a partner to enable it to provide superior Internet services to over 1 million subscribers in Port Harcourt, Edo, and Ogun.

Tizeti proprietary solar towers help deliver premium internet services to residential, small, and medium enterprises and ensured that the company could bring the internet closer to its customers in those areas.

Tizeti’s partnership with Cambium Network, a provider of wireless networking solutions, helps Tizeti to expand its Internet Service Provision operations in the nation and meet its customers’ increased demand for quality and high-speed connectivity, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In ten years, Tizeti has quietly impacted the internet space in Nigeria, and has become the number #1 fixed internet operator with the largest connected and active subscriber base in West Africa’s biggest economy and has contributed a leading role to tripling internet users in Nigeria from 16% when it started operations in 2012 to about 50% in 2022. Tizeti’s impact has not gone unrecognized: it recently won the Internet Service Provider of the Year 2021 award in Nigeria.

What started as a simple side hustle to provide fast, yet affordable internet to as many people as possible, eventually played a significant role in West Africa’s digital transformation narrative.

Tizeti has disrupted the traditional ISP operating model and become the one of the largest ISP in Nigeria by subscriber base and the partner of choice for international tech companies coming into West Africa.

The opportunities for Africa in the digital economy are built on physical infrastructure laid by operators like Tizeti. While we have contributed to building the digital infrastructure in Nigeria and Ghana and plan to expand to ten new states in Nigeria, new locations in Ghana and expand to francophone West Africa, we believe that broadband must be pulled, as much as it is pushed.

This is why we started the annual technology conference, Tizeti NeXTGEN, to convene prominent corporate leaders, C-level executives, IT managers, technology startups, and digital thought leaders and discuss services and solutions that can further improve broadband penetration and digital inclusion in West Africa.

The maiden edition, themed “The future of Digital is Here”, featured insights from Yinka Adewale, co-founder/Chief Executive Officer, Kudi (now Nomba); Akin Jones, co-founder/Chief Executive Officer, Aella App; Dr. Femi Kuti, Chief Executive Officer, Reliance Health, Eniola Campbell, Country Managing Director, Nokia Nigeria, and Olubunmi Ogun, Deputy General Manager, Nigeria Sales, MainOne, an Equinix company).

The second edition of Tizeti NeXTGEN, which coincides with its 10^th anniversary, will continue the flagship’s focus on conversations on Africa’s digital environment and highlight the role of digital transformation in empowering more Nigerians, stimulating economic activity, and providing a foundation for a robust and thriving ecosystem to enable digital leadership for Africa in the 4.0 world.

Themed “The Next Frontier”, Tizeti’s NeXTGEN conference will announce new digital innovations and products, explore new partnerships, and articulate strategies to accelerate Africa’s digitization.

Compared to the global average of 63 percent internet penetration, with significantly high penetration in America and Northern Europe, Africa’s largely mobile internet penetration of 36 percent pales in comparison.

When we juxtapose the submission from the report by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), that Africa’s internet economy is one of the largest overlooked investment opportunities available, with a potential to add US$180 billion to Africa’s GDP by 2025, and the current broadband gaps, we realize the need to do tremendously more to bridge the digital divide and ensure that the opportunities from digital are available to everyone in Africa, irrespective of social class or geography.

Africa, Africans, and friends of Africa must do more to widen the broadband connectivity envelope and improve digital inclusion, thus impacting knockdown effects on financial, healthcare, academic, and other inclusions.

We can do more. We must do more.

“We are excited to welcome Amanosi Okhakhu, Temitope Osunrinde, and Omobolaji Akinde to Tizeti,” said Kendall Ananyi, Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Tizeti. “Amanosi Okhakhu brings to her role, her expertise in providing financial and assurance services to corporate entities in Nigeria and the United Kingdom. Omobolaji Akinde brings her experience in enterprise sales and business development in telecommunications to her role at Tizeti. Temitope Osunrinde has broad experience in marketing and the digital infrastructure sector, and this will be instrumental to the brand experience, growth, and continued success of the business, especially as we expand across West Africa.”

The new additions to Tizeti’s executive leadership come at a time when the company is entering a new phase of international growth and network expansion.

At its NextGEN conference in 2021, the company tested its next-generation WiFi technology (WiGig), capable of delivering internet speeds up to 1 GBPS – over 30X Nigeria’s average internet speed.

Tizeti also announced the expansion of its unlimited internet plans, currently available in cities in Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Rivers, and Edo States to new locations in Nigeria, Ghana, Togo, and Cote d’Ivoire within the next eighteen months.

Okhakhu is a professional accountant with over 10 years of experience in risk assessment, compliance, audit, corporate governance, and accounting, among others.

She was previously a Senior Manager with the Assurance practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Nigeria and served various medium to large multinational and indigenous firms in Nigeria and the United Kingdom.

She is a graduate of Accounting from the University of Benin and holds membership at the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN).

Akinde is a sales and business development professional with over 16 years of experience across industries, including IT and Telecoms, Hospitality, Manufacturing, and FMCG.

Before Tizeti, she was the Senior Account Manager/Key Account Manager at Vodacom Business (Nigeria) Limited and previously held roles at 21st Century Technologies and Gateway Communications. She is a Certified Project Manager and holds a degree in Accountancy from the University of Lagos.

Osunrinde enters the role with more than 12 years of experience in management consulting, technology, and telecommunications, having successfully managed regional strategic marketing for telecom companies.

He was Head, of Marketing and Communications at MainOne, with responsibilities for West Africa before a stint at Verraki (previously known as Accenture Nigeria), where he served as Head of Marketing.

He holds degrees in English, and Public and International Affairs, from the University of Lagos, and is concluding the Executive MBA program at the Lagos Business School.

Osunrinde has attended courses at Yale School of Management, EGADE Business School, and the National University of Singapore.

“Tizeti’s leadership in the low-cost unlimited internet market in Nigeria and indeed West Africa provides huge opportunities to tackle digital exclusion for millions in the region. The company’s continued focus on providing affordable broadband access via innovative solar-powered masts will significantly inch the needle towards the continent’s digital economy and empower more Africans with the digital tools for work, education, healthcare, entertainment, and markets, among others. We are excited to join the Tizeti team for this next phase of growth and work with its young, energetic people bridging the digital divide”, Osunrinde said.