NSIA, LASG Assure Kasi DataCentres of Optimal Support for Market Expansion

Emma

The Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) and the Lagos State government have reiterated their support for Kasi DataCentres, in order to enable it attain its full expansion plan in Lagos and other states of the county.

Kasi DataCentres, when fully operational in 2023, is expected to create digital jobs and enhance the economies of the state and the country at large.

Both NSIA and the Lagos State government gave the assurances in Lagos on Tuesday, while unveiling the Kasi Foundry and the Kasi Academy, which graduated 13 students in its first cohort, designed to develop digital skills among Nigerian youths.

Chief Executive Officer of NSIA, Mr. Uche Orji, who was represented by the Secretary to Governing Council of NSIA, Uduak Ukpeh, said as partner, NSIA would continue to support Kasi DataCentres in all its operations, since it is centred around digital job creation. 

The Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who was represented by his Special Adviser on Innovation and Technology, Mr. Tubosun Alake, said development in the technology space had shown that hybrid Data Centres being championed by Kasi DataCentres, come with a lot of potential to drive skills development, adding that the state government will be willing to support companies like Kasi DataCentres to enable it achieve full market expansion that will benefit the people of Lagos and the Lagos State government.

According to Alake, Lagos State government will be supporting in areas of rapid infrastructure development and making sure that there is efficient structure on ground. “The support is necessary because government is in the business of serving people and creating economic values as quick as possible. Government will also provide the right incentives for Kasi DataCentres to ensure its growth and development,” Alake said.   

Speaking about the potential of existing data centres, Kasi International Partner, and Chairman of Infrastructure Masons, a global professional association of individuals motivated to make a better connected world for everyone, Mr. Dean Nelson, said: “There are seven million data centres in the world, and 105 Gigawatts of capacity around the world, which represent 2.4 per cent of the global energy drive. This is all about digital infrastructure because the billions of devices that are currently on the globe are consuming infrastructure. India alone, in 2019, had 400 Megawatts capacity globally. In Africa, there are about 300 Megawatts capacity, which is underdevelopment, compare to the huge population of Africans. So the Kasi DataCentres, when operational in 2023, will generate a lot of capacities through its data centre operations. Data centre operation in Africa is going to experience exponential growth in the next few years.”

Speaking about the Kasi Foundry, the Founder and CEO of Kasi DataCentres, Mr. Johnson Agogbua, said the Foundry received over 250 applications, but only 14 scaled through the selection process and 13 were trained in the first cohort and certificates were issued to them during the unveiling of the Kasi Foundry on Tuesday in Lagos.

“We decided to train the students on digital skills in order to bridge the exiting human capital gap in the country. The Kasi Foundry is a place where entrepreneurs and developers will have a place and space to turn their ideas into products and create businesses and then scale such businesses to reach the entire Nigeria and the Nigerian people. Kasi teamed up with industry partners to create the Kasi Foundry, which is an ecosystem development and operations centre to launch today and tomorrow’s ideas. Our partners and customers can leverage the Kasi Foundry to prepare and launch their products and further scale-out their businesses at the Kasi Hyperscale DataCentre. We will be hosting hackarthons at the Kasi Foundry, beginning from December this year,” Agogbua further said.