03 July 2024

Left to right: Dan Croft (Regional Industry Manager, Infrastructure, Central Africa & Anglophone West Africa - IFC), Jean GuyonnetDuperat (Country Director Nigeria - Proparco), Chris Wood (CEO - WIOCC Group), Chidi Iwuchukwu (Head of Investment Banking, Banking Division Africa - RMB)

A financing package from IFC and Proparco will fund WIOCC’s expansion strategy in three African countries, enhancing the continent’s digital infrastructure and connectivity and supporting economic growth.

The financing includes loans of $10 million and ZAR 200 million from IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, and $20 million from Proparco, a development finance institution and subsidiary of the Agence Française de Développement Group. WIOCC expects to sign an additional $10 million loan for its expansion in Nigeria with RMB in the next few weeks.

With the funding, WIOCC Group will expand its core and edge data centres in the DRC, Nigeria, and South Africa to meet growing demand for colocation and other data centre services. It will also grow its fibre networks, helping bridge the digital divide, and fostering economic growth across Africa.

“We are excited to conclude this next stage of our capital raise, which will enable significant expansion, adding further capacity to our open-access data centre operation and extending open-access hyperscale national, international, and metro connectivity across our key markets in Nigeria, southern Africa, the DRC and Greater East and Central Africa,” said Chris Wood, CEO of WIOCC Group. “Our policy of continual investment in infrastructure to create Africa’s first, truly open-access interconnected digital ecosystem means ongoing investment for growth, ensuring readiness to meet the future demands of our clients’ customers throughout Africa.”