The Regional Executive argues that data sovereignty, power reform, and execution discipline will determine whether Africa captures value in the next digital cycle.

Africa’s digital future will not be decided by ambition alone. It will be shaped by whether the continent can localize compute, stabilize power, and turn policy intent into operational infrastructure.

That was the central argument put forward by Dr. Krish Ranganath, Regional Executive at Africa Data Centres, in an interview with Africa Hyperscalers, where he reflected on his career, the state of Africa’s digital infrastructure, and what must change for the continent to compete meaningfully in the next phase of cloud and AI expansion.

Dr. Ranganath’s perspective is shaped by experience across continents. His career began in India and has spanned telecoms, financial services, and large-scale data center operations across Africa, Asia, and other emerging markets. Along the way, he has overseen the deployment of fiber networks in West Africa and managed more than 50 data centers across 19 countries.

That long view, he says, makes Africa’s current moment familiar – and instructive.

“Africa today reminds me of where India was years ago,” he noted. “The challenges are real, but so is the opportunity – if the right foundations are put in place.”

Data Sovereignty Is Not a Slogan

At the core of Dr. Ranganath’s argument is data sovereignty – not as a political catchphrase, but as an economic and technical necessity.

Across much of Africa, enterprises still rely on offshore data centers and foreign cloud platforms, pushing traffic thousands of kilometers away from users. The result is higher costs, increased latency, and weaker control over sensitive data in sectors such as banking, healthcare, and government services.

“Cables reduce the cost of moving data,” he said, “but they don’t determine where value is created. If data is processed elsewhere, Africa becomes a corridor, not a platform.”

He points to India as a case study, where regulatory pressure, incentives, and scale eventually compelled hyperscalers to build locally. Africa, he argues, must take a similarly pragmatic approach – focusing first on a core group of critical economies rather than attempting to replicate infrastructure across all 54 countries at once.

Execution, Not Capital, is the Real Constraint

Contrary to popular belief, Dr. Ranganath does not see capital as Africa’s primary bottleneck.

“Money is available,” he said. “But it flows only when projects are structured properly – with anchor tenants, realistic demand analysis, and credible execution plans.”

Too many projects fail before financing, he argued, not because investors are unwilling, but because fundamentals are weak: unclear power strategies, fragmented regulation, and a lack of coordination between data centers, connectivity providers, and cloud platforms.

Power is the Make-or-Break variable

Nowhere are Africa’s infrastructure challenges more acute than in power supply – particularly for data centers, which require stable, affordable, and predictable energy.

In Nigeria, Dr. Ranganath noted, power costs of over ₦200 (15 cents) per kilowatt-hour are fundamentally incompatible with globally competitive data center economics. Yet he sees a clear path forward through collaboration.

Rather than each facility building isolated power solutions, he argues for clustered energy models, where Independent Power Producers supply multiple data centers in concentrated zones such as Lagos, lowering costs for operators and customers alike.

“Data centers should not be solving power individually,” he said. “This is where shared infrastructure changes the economics.”

AI Factories and Africa’s Next Phase

Looking ahead, Dr. Ranganath is cautiously optimistic about Africa’s trajectory into 2026.

Africa Data Centres is already implementing an AI factory in South Africa, with plans to deploy similar facilities across the continent in phases. These investments, he stressed, must be paired with flexible design, scalable power, and local talent development.

But Africa’s AI future, he argued, should not be built by copying foreign models wholesale.

“Africa must build AI for Africa,” he said. “That means local infrastructure, local data, and solutions designed for the continent’s realities.”

After nearly two decades working across African markets, Dr. Ranganath spoke not just of challenges, but of belief – in the continent’s people, its warmth, and its long-term potential.

“Africa has something special,” he said. “If we match that humanity with execution, the opportunity is enormous.”

For Africa’s digital economy, the next chapter will be written not by vision documents, but by power plants, data halls, fiber routes, and policies that hold. The question, as Dr. Ranganath sees it, is no longer whether Africa has ambition – but whether it is ready to build.