 |
| Strive Masiyiwa, Cassava Founder & Executive Chairman |
Cassava Technologies, a pan-African digital infrastructure powerhouse, has announced a strategic collaboration with global consulting giant Accenture to accelerate the rollout of sovereign AI capabilities across Africa. The partnership marks a pivotal moment in the continent’s digital evolution—one that blends cutting-edge technology with local relevance, regulatory alignment, and inclusive innovation.
Building Africa’s AI Backbone
At the heart of the collaboration is a shared vision: to enable African nations to harness artificial intelligence on their own terms. Accenture will deploy its AI Refinery™ platform alongside Cassava’s GPU-as-a-Service (GPUaaS), powered by NVIDIA’s high-performance AI infrastructure. This fusion will allow AI workloads to be processed within national borders, ensuring compliance with local data governance laws and reinforcing digital sovereignty.
The rollout begins in South Africa, with plans to expand into Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, and Nigeria—leveraging Cassava’s ultra-low-latency fibre broadband network and energy-efficient data centres. These “AI factories” will be equipped with thousands of GPUs, enabling scalable, secure, and context-aware AI development across sectors.
Local Context, Global Capability
Unlike generic AI deployments, Cassava and Accenture are prioritizing localized solutions that reflect Africa’s linguistic diversity, cultural nuances, and economic realities. From agriculture and healthcare to mining, telecom, and financial services, the initiative aims to deliver AI applications that are not only powerful but also deeply relevant.
- Cassava CEO Ahmed El Beheiry described the initiative as a “nation-building story with inclusion at its centre.”
- Accenture’s Mauro Macchi emphasized the opportunity to “reimagine operations” and “unlock new ways to create value” across the continent.
The Visionary Behind Cassava
This bold move is emblematic of the entrepreneurial ethos of Strive Masiyiwa, Cassava’s founder and executive chairman. A Zimbabwean-born billionaire and telecom pioneer, Masiyiwa is no stranger to building transformative infrastructure. He famously broke Zimbabwe’s telecom monopoly in the 1990s with Econet Wireless and has since become one of Africa’s most influential business leaders.
- Masiyiwa is investing $720 million to build sovereign AI infrastructure across five African nations.
- He serves on the boards of Netflix, the Gates Foundation, and National Geographic Society.
- He is a signatory of the Giving Pledge, supporting education, public health, and youth empowerment.
His mantra: “Start small, think big.”—a call for Africa to become a creator, not just a consumer, of emerging technologies.
Trust, Compliance, and Inclusion
By keeping data within borders and tailoring AI to local realities, the Cassava–Accenture alliance aims to strengthen trust, foster compliance, and democratize access to advanced technologies. It’s a model that could inspire other regions grappling with the tension between global innovation and national sovereignty.
As Africa steps into the AI era, this partnership signals more than just technological progress—it’s a declaration of intent: to build, govern, and scale digital infrastructure that reflects the continent’s values, ambitions, and future.