The initiative aims to bolster the continent’s digital sovereignty by providing local cloud solutions that serve both public and private sector stakeholders, offering an alternative to international cloud providers often associated with high costs and regulatory challenges.
Ladi Okuneye, CEO of Unicloud Africa, emphasized that for too long, African businesses have been constrained by the financial and compliance burdens of offshore cloud platforms. He described the project as a strategic move toward fostering Africa’s digital and financial independence. The new infrastructure is built on three core principles: cost control, sovereignty, and performance. It features local currency billing and removes data egress fees, enabling greater financial predictability for users. Sensitive data is hosted and processed locally to meet regulatory standards for sectors such as finance, healthcare, and public administration. The platform promises a high availability rate of 99.999% and adheres to international security standards ISO 27001 and ISO 22301. Additionally, it offers GPU-as-a-Service, supporting the deployment of artificial intelligence projects across the continent.
This initiative is part of Unicloud Africa’s broader “One Cloud, One Africa” strategy and is supported by a partnership with TouchNet, a well-established technology player on the continent, to ensure a robust and scalable infrastructure foundation.
The timing of this launch is particularly significant given Africa’s ongoing digital disparities. Despite a rapidly growing demand for mobile data — estimated to increase by nearly 40% annually — the continent still accounts for less than 2% of global data centre capacity. A report by Heirs Technologies from September 2025 states that Africa has approximately 211 active data centres, with nearly half concentrated in South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, and Egypt. The establishment of local cloud infrastructure is expected to reduce service costs, enhance data sovereignty, and stimulate innovation within the region. On a continental level, it represents a vital step toward building a more autonomous digital ecosystem capable of supporting the growth of artificial intelligence and Big Data initiatives labelled as “made in Africa.”
