Pan-African technology leader, Cassava Technologies (Cassava), has brought in leading global professional services company, Accenture, to help with its mission of delivering scalable AI capability across Africa in the near future.
Both organizations recently signed an agreement in which Accenture will leverage its AI Refinery platform and other technologies to design and deliver sovereign AI solutions using Cassava’s GPU-as-a-Service (GPUaaS), housed in Cassava’s secure data centre facilities, accelerated with NVIDIA AI infrastructure. These solutions will enable Cassava’s customers to process AI workloads and data within national borders in alignment with local requirements and regulations across Africa.
Cassava Technologies Strides Across Africa
Founded by Strive Masiyiwa, Cassava Technologies aims to create a vertically integrated tech ecosystem, spanning connectivity (fibre), data centres, cloud & cybersecurity, payments/fintech, AI (compute), and digital platforms.
Cassava’s data centres, known as “AI Factory”, are meant to provide high-performance, accelerated computing for AI (AI as a Service) rooted in NVIDIA technologies across Africa. They will begin in South Africa and later expand into Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, and Nigeria. This phased rollout is in line with Cassava’s expansions planned at its other data centre facilities across Africa.
Cassava plans to leverage the company’s pan-African high-speed, ultra-low-latency, fibre broadband network, which interconnects the company’s energy-efficient data centres to power AI computing workloads and help companies across Africa leverage homegrown AI solutions.
Accenture’s Role
Global professional services leader Accenture has been brought on as a partner to help Cassava Technologies achieve this goal in the shortest time frame possible.
Speaking on the partnership, Mauro Macchi, CEO of Accenture for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said, “AI is opening up exciting new opportunities for sparking innovation, advancing competitiveness and driving growth across Africa.
“With our deep, global experience in sovereign cloud and AI, Accenture will help Cassava deliver secure, scalable sovereign AI solutions and reimagine its operations. Together, we will enable organisations across the African continent to adopt AI with confidence and unlock new ways to create value.”
Ahmed El Beheiry, CEO of Cassava AI, noted, “With our GPUaaS, Cassava will drive the continent’s AI revolution by allowing businesses to access compute power based on their individual needs. This is our commitment to ensuring Africa has the infrastructure and access it needs to compete in the AI era—AI isn’t just a technology story; it’s a nation-building story with inclusion at its centre.
“Collaborating with Accenture allows us to leverage their global expertise in building a sovereign AI cloud capability designed for the African market. This partnership will strengthen data governance, drive practical AI adoption across key industries, and ensure that we provide African solutions for African challenges.” He concluded.
Target Sectors
Key sectors being targeted by the initiative include the financial services, mining, telecommunications, agriculture, and healthcare sectors across Africa. The product of this partnership is expected to build up trust with local companies and, at the same time, lead to AI solutions specifically tailored towards the African market.
