Cassava Technologies to invest $249M in South Africa

Infrastructure and digital services provider Cassava Technologies has pledged a total of 4.5 billion South African rand (US$249 million) in investment in South Africa through its business units – Liquid Intelligent Technologies, Africa Data Centres and Distributed Power Africa.

In support of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa's initiative to drive investment into the country, the announcement was made during the fifth South Africa Investment Conference (SAIC) in Sandton last Thursday.

Through this investment, Cassava said it will bring internationally recognized services and products to South Africa through the group's renewable energy, cloud and cyber security, data center, and broadband connectivity business units.

Cassava's investment pledge comprises several key projects, including the expansion of Liquid Intelligent Technologies' fiber network, the extension of Africa Data Centres' capacity and footprint, and enhanced cloud and cyber security capacity.

The investment will also include the rollout of clean, renewable energy by Distributed Power Africa in South Africa.

Cassava Technologies said the investment will bring services and products to the country through its business units. (Source: Image by www.slon.pics on Freepik)

"South Africa accounts for the largest proportion of Africa's industrial gross domestic product (GDP) with a sophisticated and growing ICT sector," said Cassava Technologies President and Group CEO Hardy Pemhiwa.

"The country's unique combination of highly developed first-world economic infrastructure and a stable macroeconomic environment affords businesses like ours a conducive investment environment in which we can partner with government to drive economic development and create jobs," he added.

Cassava's African investments

Cassava's investment pledge comes at a time when the country has been seeing a lot of companies investing in its growth.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) last week announced its plans to invest ZAR30.4 billion ($1.8 billion) in South Africa's cloud infrastructure by 2029.

Cassava Technologies added that its investments will contribute towards positioning the country as an attractive investment destination and enable greater inclusion of all South Africans.

The pledge also comes at a time when the Cassava Technologies business unit Liquid Intelligent Technologies committed to building a data center in Zambia.

Furthermore, the investment pledge follows Cassava Technologies other business unit, Africa Data Centres breaking ground on new facilities in Nairobi, Kenya and Cape Town, South Africa in January 2023.

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*Top image is of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Cassava Technologies President and Group CEO Hardy Pemhiwa. (Source: Cassava Technologies)

— Matshepo Sehloho, Associate Editor, Connecting Africa