Zimbabwe’s richest man Strive Masiyiwa plans five new AI factories within a year

Zimbabwe’s richest man, Strive Masiyiwa, is moving to build five artificial intelligence factories across Africa within the next year through his company, Cassava Technologies. The facilities are planned for South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt and Morocco.

Masiyiwa, founder and executive chairman of Cassava, said the initiative will expand what he calls a “Sovereign AI Cloud,” giving every African country the ability to host and run its own AI infrastructure. “We are now launching an expansion of what we call the ‘Sovereign AI Cloud,’ which will allow every African country to have its own AI factory,” he said.

Cassava moves to bridge AI gap

Only about five percent of Africa’s AI talent currently has access to the computing power required for advanced work. By setting up infrastructure closer to home, he said, Cassava hopes to close that gap and give African researchers, startups and governments the tools they need to compete globally.

Masiyiwa described the project as a continuation of his push to expand technology access in Africa. “Our AI factory provides the infrastructure for innovation to scale, empowering African businesses, start-ups, and researchers with access to cutting-edge AI infrastructure. Now they don’t have to look beyond Africa to get it,” he said. “I helped pioneer Africa’s mobile revolution and then Africa’s high-capacity broadband. Now we are driving the continent’s AI revolution.”

The billionaire entrepreneur built his fortune by founding Econet in 1998 and growing it into one of Africa’s largest telecom groups, with operations in more than 20 countries. His wealth, estimated at $1.3 billion, comes largely from stakes in Econet Wireless Zimbabwe, where he owns about 38 percent, and TN CyberTech Investments Holdings, formerly EcoCash Holdings Zimbabwe, where he holds 33 percent.

Building Africa’s future with AI power

In recent years, Masiyiwa has pushed Cassava beyond telecoms into fintech, energy, satellite services and artificial intelligence. The company is building its first AI facility in South Africa in partnership with U.S. chipmaker Nvidia. The $720 million project will be powered by 3,000 Nvidia GPUs, much of which has already been reserved by African AI practitioners. The facility is expected to give businesses, governments and researchers access to high-performance computing while keeping sensitive data on the continent.

To strengthen that effort, Cassava’s cloud unit, Cloudmania, has expanded its partnership with U.S.-listed AvePoint to bolster data security and cloud adoption across Africa. The deal allows Cloudmania to distribute AvePoint’s data protection, governance and migration tools, broadening its Microsoft-focused portfolio and offering African businesses access to services widely used in global markets.