News Wings

Tag: Founder & Chairman

  • Cassava to upgrade its data centres with NVIDIA supercomputers to drive Africa’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) future

    Cassava to upgrade its data centres with NVIDIA supercomputers to drive Africa’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) future

    …Cassava’s AI-enabled data centres will help Africa develop domestic AI technologies, increase productivity, protect data and support businesses, making the continent economically competitive and future-ready

    Cassava Technologies announced today that it plans to build Africa’s first AI factory — a powerful and super-secure data centre facility powered with NVIDIA AI computing technology. This will give African businesses, governments and researchers access to cutting-edge AI computing capacity — helping them develop smarter AI products, streamline operations and stay competitive in a fast-changing world. It provides the supercomputers and software needed to train AI while keeping data within Africa’s borders. 

    Cassava plans to deploy NVIDIA accelerated computing and AI software using NVIDIA Cloud Partner (NCP) reference architectures, at its data centres in South Africa by June 2025, with expansion planned at its other data centre facilities in Egypt, Kenya, Morocco and Nigeria. Cassava’s AI Factory will leverage the company’s pan-African high-speed, ultra-low-latency, fibre-optic network with sustainable data centres to deliver AI as a Service (AIaaS). Cassava’s world-class data centres are designed to be energy efficient, using less electricity to power AI computing workloads. 

    NVIDIA GPU-based supercomputers will power the AI factory, enabling faster AI model training, fine-tuning and advanced inference capabilities. Cassava aims to be the first to introduce these accelerated computing platforms to Africa as an NCP, playing a crucial role in the continent’s AI ecosystem. 

    The Cassava AI Factory will ensure businesses and researchers have access to the AI computing power required to scale, boost productivity and power innovation. By using this secure, high-performance AI Factory, African businesses and governments can develop local solutions to local challenges, enabling Africans to build, train, scale and deploy AI in a secure environment compliant with global and local regulations. 

    “Building digital infrastructure for the AI economy is a priority if Africa is to take full advantage of the fourth industrial revolution. Our AI Factory provides the infrastructure for this innovation to scale, empowering African businesses, startups and researchers with access to cutting-edge AI infrastructure to turn their bold ideas into real-world breakthroughs — and now, they don’t have to look beyond Africa to get it,” said Strive Masiyiwa, Founder & Chairman of Cassava. “Collaborating with NVIDIA gives us the advanced computing capabilities needed to drive Africa’s AI innovation while strengthening the continent’s digital independence.” 

    “AI is helping innovators solve our greatest challenges in agriculture, healthcare, energy, financial services and many other industries creating opportunity in Africa,” said Jaap Zuiderveld, VP EMEA at NVIDIA. “As an NVIDIA Cloud Partner, Cassava is providing essential infrastructure and software to help pioneering companies and organizations accelerate AI development to foster innovation across the continent.” 

    Cassava’s AI Factory marks the next step in the group’s long-standing leadership in providing world class digital solutions, reinforcing its broader commitment to responsible AI adoption, innovation and productivity growth in Africa. 

  • African brands surge to 17% of the Top 100 brands in Africa

    African brands surge to 17% of the Top 100 brands in Africa

    …Dangote, GT Bank, Channels TV, DSTV and Coke lead the list of the most admired brands in Nigeria.

     Today Brand Africa unveiled the 12th annual Brand Africa 100:  Africa’s Best Brands 2022 rankings of the Top 100 most admired brands in Africa at a live event at Eko Hotel & Suites in Nigeria. 

    Against a backdrop of internal focus as a consequence of an urgent rebuilding of economies devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the acceleration of AfCFTA’s goal of driving greater intra-African trade, after a 5-year decline, African brands have surged 4% to 17% from an all-time low of 13% in 2020 and 2021 in the 2022 Brand Africa 100 | Africa’s Best Brands survey and ranking of the best brand in Africa.

    Nigerian brands, Dangote (#22), Glo (#32), Jumia (#42) and Nasco (#75) are among the 17 African brands that have heralded a 4% surge by African brands to 17% share of the Top 100 brands in Africa.

    Overall, South Africa’s MTN, has returned to the Top 10 as the highest-ranking African brand and traded places with Dangote as the #1 African brand recalled when prompted to consolidate its status as the #1 African brand.

    Dangote, the pre-eminent African brand founded in 1981 by Nigerian Aliko Dangote, emerged as the #1 brand that symbolises African pride in a question where Brand Africa sought to establish which brand in Africa is a flag carrier and embodiment of rising optimism and pride in Africa. South Africa, led by MTN, leads the African list, with Nigeria, led by Dangote, the overall #1 brand, at 28%, and Kenya with flag carrier, Kenya Airways, at 8% and Ethiopia, with its flag carrier brand, Ethiopian Airline at 4%.

    Non-African brands, led by overall pace-setter Nike for the 5th consecutive year, continue to dominate with a share of 83% of the most admired brands in Africa.  Coca Cola, which has been in the Top 5 for 10 consecutive years, is the #1 overall most admired brand in Nigeria.

    In a separate list of the Top 25 most admired financial services brands, African brands, led by Nigeria’s GT Bank for the third consecutive year, dominate the rankings with 68% of the share to 32% for non-African brands.

    DStv, has consolidated its position as the #1 African media brand for the second year running, while Channels TV led as the #1 Nigerian media brand, in a category that is fast going digital and mobile.

    Recognising that while the rebound in African brands is notable, the results will not be sustainable without committed and inspirational leadership, in 2022, Brand Africa recognised those leaders who are the catalyst for growth for Made in Africa brands both in corporate and in those who have championed and supported the development of great local brands in supporting industries. GT Bank’s Group CEO, Segun Agbaje and Nigerian doyenne of marketing, founder and chairman of Troyka Group, Dr. Biodun Shobanjo were awarded the inaugural Africa Brand Leadership Excellence awards for inspiring brand-led excellence that drives the growth of made in Africa brands.

    “As we emerge out of the pandemic and Africa seeks to assert itself, the results are very inspiring and bode well for an African renaissance led by competitive world-class African brands,” says Thebe Ikalafeng, Founder and Chairman of Brand Africa and Brand Leadership.

    “With increased number of countries and greater sample size this year, more than ever, and especially so during the pandemic, mobile proved to be  the effective tool for us to reach and access respondents across the continent,” said Bernard Okasi, Director of Research, GeoPoll, which has been the lead data collection partner since 2015.

    Karin Du Chenne, Chief Growth Officer, Africa Middle East for Kantar, which has been the insight lead for Brand Africa since inception in 2010 says, “despite volumes of brands analysed as a results of increased sample size in terms of respondents and countries, the survey continues to yield a very consistent picture of brands and trends that are transforming the continent.”

    Now in its 12th year, every year on or around Africa Day, 25 May, Brand Africa releases the results of the survey on the most admired brands in Africa based on a survey across 29 countries that represent as much as 85% of the continent’s GDP and population.  The 2022 survey was conducted between March and April 2022 and yielded over 80,000 brand mentions and over 3,500 unique brands.

    The Brand Africa 100 results will be published in the June issue African Business magazine which on sale globally in June 2022 and will be available online to subscribers on www.africanbusinessmagazine.com.

    The 2022 Brand Africa 100: Africa’s Best Brands were organised by Brand Africa partners in Nigeria, AT3 Resources and Open Squares Africa, and supported by the Central Bank of Nigeria, South African Tourism, NQR, Africa Media Agency and BCW Africa.

    For Information on the Brand Africa agenda, initiatives and partners and specifically the Brand Africa 100:  Africa’s Best Brands Rankings visit www.brand.africa and follow the results on #BrandAfrica100 and #AfricasBestBrands2022.