Zimbabwean entrepreneur Strive Masiyiwa has long been a trailblazer. He disrupted telecom monopolies in the 1990s, bringing mobile phones to millions across the continent. Today, at 63, he is turning his gaze to an even bigger canvas: Africa’s digital public infrastructure. Through his company Cassava Technologies, Masiyiwa is weaving together fiber optic networks, data centers, and AI-powered clouds that could redefine how governments, businesses, and everyday people connect and innovate.
Digital public infrastructure, or DPI, forms the invisible highways of the modern economy. Think secure digital IDs that let farmers access loans with a smartphone scan, shared payment systems that move money instantly across borders, and open data platforms that help cities predict floods or track disease outbreaks. In Africa, where over 600 million people remain unbanked and internet penetration hovers at 43 percent, robust DPI isn’t a luxury. It’s the key to unlocking economic growth projected to hit $7 trillion by 2050.
Masiyiwa’s work stands out because it bridges the gap between private ambition and public need. His flagship, Liquid Intelligent Technologies, already spans 100,000 kilometers of fiber optic cables across 14 countries. These lines pulse with data for banks in Lagos, schools in Nairobi, and hospitals in Johannesburg. Then there’s Africa Data Centres, managing facilities that store sensitive information for governments and enterprises alike. By keeping data close to home, Masiyiwa addresses a core DPI challenge: sovereignty. Why ship African health records to servers in Europe when local clouds can process them faster and safer?
Take Kenya’s M-Pesa, a DPI success story that Masiyiwa helped inspire through his early telecom battles. It started as a simple mobile money tool but evolved into a backbone for national payments, handling 50 percent of the country’s GDP. Masiyiwa envisions similar scale with AI. His $720 million push for five “AI factories” in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt, and Morocco will deploy 3,000 Nvidia GPUs. These aren’t just tech toys. They’re engines for DPI applications, like AI-driven crop yield predictions for Ethiopian farmers or fraud detection in Ghana’s digital wallets.
In a recent dialogue (see YouTube video below), Masiyiwa likened AI’s arrival to the Industrial Revolution, but at warp speed. “This is going to happen in five or 10 years,” he said. He’s right. Africa’s AI talent pool, already 100,000 strong, lacks the computing muscle. Only five percent have access to high-powered tools today. Masiyiwa’s Sovereign AI Cloud aims to flip that script, letting universities and startups build models in Swahili or Yoruba, not just English.
Partnerships amplify his impact. The International Finance Corporation is funding expansions in key markets, while giants like Microsoft and Google supply tech. Yet Masiyiwa keeps it Pan-African. “We don’t want to be users anymore,” he told TIME magazine, which named him to its 2025 AI list. “We want to fully participate in the economic opportunity.” His model echoes successes like India’s Aadhaar system, which digitized IDs for 1.3 billion people, boosting welfare delivery by 30 percent. In Africa, DPI could add $100 billion to GDP by 2025, per McKinsey estimates, through efficient services and inclusive growth.
Challenges remain, of course. Power outages plague data centers, and regulatory hurdles slow cross-border data flows. But Masiyiwa’s decades of grit, from court fights against Zimbabwe’s old guard to quiet investments in renewable energy for his facilities, show he’s built for this. Entrepreneurs like Nigeria’s Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, who co-founded Flutterwave, praise such infrastructure as “the oxygen” for fintech booms.
Masiyiwa’s quiet empire-building reminds us: Africa’s digital future isn’t imported. It’s engineered by visionaries who see the continent’s 1.4 billion people as co-creators. As fiber threads deeper into rural villages and AI hums in local servers, opportunities multiply. Farmers gain market insights. Youth launch apps that solve real problems. Leaders craft policies grounded in homegrown data.
This is Africa claiming its place in the global tech race, one cable and cloud at a time. What’s your take on how DPI can transform your corner of the continent? Share in an email to editor@africa.com
