Building Africa's AI Factory: Cassava, Rafay and Sovereign AI | RAISE Summit 2026

Cassava Technologies Overview & Strategy

• Operates as a digital solution provider across emerging markets, including Africa, Latin America, India, the MENA region, Israel, and the U.S. (San Francisco).
• Founded circa 1992-1993 to address the lack of connectivity in Africa; now serves over 40 countries with a workforce of 5,000+.
• Strategically positioned to leverage demographic shifts: 70% of the world's population under 30 resides in Africa, driving B2C AI consumption on the edge.
• Business model focuses on bringing top-tier AI technology from partners (e.g., NVIDIA, Google, AMD, Cerebras) to emerging markets via systemic integration.

Compute Infrastructure & Investment Milestones

• Historically, Africa held less than 0.5% of global compute capacity with approximately 100 GPUs continent-wide prior to recent investments.
• Successfully acquired significant GPU inventory (including H200s) despite supply constraints and American embargoes, backed by capital raised for this purpose.
• NVIDIA and Google have invested directly in Cassava Technologies.
• Currently owns over seven data centers across Africa and controls the largest dark fiber connectivity across 36 countries, supported by undersea cables.
• Deploying a cluster-based infrastructure strategy targeting Africa's top economies: Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Egypt, and Morocco.
• Extending compute infrastructure to Latin America (Colombia, Paraguay, Uruguay, Brazil, Argentina, Peru) and India (Pune).

Orchestration Layer & Ecosystem Enablement

• Developed a custom orchestration layer with NVIDIA to enable multi-tenancy, observability, governance, and AI services rather than relying solely on bare metal.
• Launched a free compute platform for students and startups to democratize access, allowing users to book GPU hours (2 hours to multiple days) for model training.
• Stanford University receives ~$20M in student compute credits annually; Cassava aims to replicate this access in Africa where it was previously zero.
• Two startups currently utilizing the platform are developing language models for Africa's 2,000+ languages; other applications include rural radiography, agricultural chatbots, and healthcare advice.
• Engaged with the World Bank and MasterCard Foundation to scale student and startup compute access across the continent.

Future Roadmap & Strategic Pillars (4-5 Year Outlook)

• Infrastructure Expansion: Continued growth in Africa, Latin America, India, Israel, and Eastern Europe to support a profit-driven business model.
• Use Case Focus: Prioritizing high-impact sectors including agriculture, healthcare, government digital transformation, and digital education access.
• Job Creation Strategy: Explicitly countering the narrative of AI-driven job decimation by focusing on AI as a tool for creating new jobs and economic opportunities in emerging markets.
• Geographic Expansion: Aiming to distribute compute capabilities globally across emerging markets to ensure no region is left behind.

Key Strategic Learnings & Advice

• Skills Investment: Shift from "forward-deployed engineering" dumps to deeper, sustained engagement with enterprises and institutions adopting AI.
• Capital Intensity: Acknowledges the cash-heavy nature of infrastructure deployment; emphasizes the need for innovative capital raising and deployment methods.
• Energy Sustainability: Identifies energy availability and green energy sourcing as critical constraints for powering AI-hungry infrastructure.
• Partnership Necessity: Reinforces that partnerships are the primary growth engine, as the company lacks a large domestic R&D budget and relies on integrating external technology.