KENYA – Oracle, an American multinational computer technology company, is set to establish a public cloud region in Nairobi, Kenya, reinforcing the country’s status as a prime investment destination for global tech companies in Africa.

According to the tech giant, the new public cloud region in Nairobi will help meet the growing demand for Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) services across Africa.

This will be the company’s second OCI cloud region in the continent with the first one being in Johannesburg South Africa 

Oracle revealed this during a meeting between an Oracle delegation led by Scott Twaddle, senior vice president responsible for OCI Product and Industries, and Kenya’s president William Ruto. Also present during the meeting was cabinet secretary, Ministry of Information, Communications, and the Digital Economy Eliud Owalo.

“We are delighted to see Oracle planning such an important investment in Kenya,” said President of the Republic of Kenya, William Ruto. 

“I am excited to see major technology companies like Oracle investing in Kenya and bringing state-of-the-art technologies like AI and cloud applications that will benefit Kenyan citizens, especially in the creation of jobs.”

Oracle says the planned public cloud region in Nairobi underscores its commitment to Africa and aims to help drive the digital transformation of the Kenyan government, public institutions, enterprises, startups, universities, and investors in Kenya and the continent..

OCI’s unique cloud architecture enables Oracle to offer its full suite of more than 100 hyperscale cloud services. The Government of Kenya and the private sector can leverage this to increase the ease of doing business in Kenya.

“Oracle’s intent to open a public cloud region in Nairobi will be a key component of Kenya’s Bottom-up Economic Transformation Agenda initiative, which is focused on digital transformation, private sector development, agricultural transformation, housing development, and healthcare modernization,” said Eliud Owalo, cabinet secretary, Ministry of Information, Communications, and the Digital Economy, Kenya.

Oracle says it will be taking advantage of Kenya’s renewable energy and digital infrastructure including abundant submarine and national connectivity.

“We are delighted to extend our commitment to helping Kenya accelerate the digital transformation of its government and private sector,” said Scott Twaddle, senior vice president, Product and Industries, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. 

“OCI is leveraged by governments and companies across the world as a scalable and secure platform for mission-critical workloads on which to drive innovation and transformation. We already have a strong business in Kenya, and the upcoming public cloud region in Nairobi represents a significant next step forward in helping support the country’s economic goals.”

President Ruto said Kenya will continue to facilitate technology companies seeking to set up their footprints in Africa.

‘’In line with the government’s strategy to lay 100,000km of fibre optic, provide digital jobs and digitize government services, Kenya continues to be a prime destination for international IT companies,’’ he said.

Oracle’s decision to establish a public cloud region in Kenya signifies a vote of confidence in the country’s economy, infrastructure, and workforce, which have already attracted investments from other global tech companies like Google, Microsoft, and AWS.

American tech companies providing cloud solutions seem to be awakening to Africa’s cloud market. Google announced it will set up its first African Cloud region in 2022, and this became operational this month. The facility is in South Africa.

While Microsoft is yet to set up a data centre in Kenya, it signed an MoU with the Kenyan government last year. Hence, Microsoft Azure will support the government’s digitalisation plans in the country. In addition, a recent agreement between the company and Vodafone will see M-pesa migrate to Azure as its new host.

Last year Amazon opened a development hub in Nairobi coming a year after it had launched an AWS Local Zone in Kenya.

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