IX AFRICA
2019 Year Founded
Data Centres
Industry
6 Number of Employees
Once completed , WIllner explains , NRB01 is expected to be a key driver of growth for Kenya ’ s digital economy , as well as the surrounding region . “ Building a big data centre is like building an airport . A city without an airport isn ' t really on the map , internationally . Once you have an international airport , then you get all sorts of people coming in and out , doing business , doing all sorts of things that stimulate the local economy ,” he explains . “ If you look at the data centre as the airport of the internet , what you ' re doing is putting the city on the map . Suddenly , all this international content , and all this international trade , starts passing through this hub .” As a result , he continues , the campus will develop into a thriving ecosystem that blends together Kenyan and East African cloud specialists , integration specialists , IT specialists , networking companies , local startups , and incubators , as well as international entities like internet giants and hyperscale cloud providers . “ You end up with this big ecosystem which means that , in the medium term , someone who has a really cool idea for a tech startup in Nairobi does not have to get on a plane to San Jose anymore and set up their business there ; they can set up that business in Nairobi and have direct access to the world ' s internet on their doorstep ,” Willner adds . “ It ' s a major step forward for tech employment , intelligence retention within the country , and the creation of new communications economies within Kenya itself . Nairobi itself has direct access to a lot of undersea cables which land in Mombasa . It looks East to India and North towards the Gulf . There are all sorts of different aspects of geography , geopolitics , and business that are conspiring to put this region on the map .”
74 August 2021