IXCELLERATE
14
“PEOPLE DON ’ T REALISE THIS IS A COUNTRY TWICE THE SIZE OF THE USA OR CHINA , WITH HUGE DIVERSITY , DOZENS OF NATIONALITIES , ETHNICITIES AND CULTURES ”
— Guy Willner , CEO , IXcellerate of companies including Teraco in South Africa , he was approached by the European Bank to chair a Russian data centre company . Thanks to the GFC that funding fell through but the opportunities presented by Russia , clearly an underserved market , had taken his interest . He teamed up with Clifford Gauntlett – a Russian speaker with 25 years ’ experience working with tech companies there – to found IXcellerate and raise the capital required to build out some serious data centre capacity in Moscow . It wasn ’ t easy to find the right location , and they looked at at least 100 sites ; however they now have a prime position inside Moscow ’ s equivalent of London ’ s M25 and were able to secure first-rate partners such as Arup and Mercury Engineering to execute the project .
There were many reasons why Moscow remained an underinvested market despite Russia ’ s evident global importance . Foremost among these was a perception among western players that the country is a country with alien customs , philosophy and unreliable business practices . “ People
FEBRUARY 2021