Google on Wednesday announced its plan to establish a new Google Cloud region in South Africa – its first on the continent that will help create jobs and increase Africa’s presence online. Google also announced opening its first African product development centre in Nairobi to develop and build better products for Africans and the world.

It disclosed this at the second Google for Africa hybrid event in Lagos. 

The Google Cloud is one way Google delivers on the $1 billion investment commitment made in 2021 by the company’s CEO, Sundar Pichai. Niral Patel, director of Google Cloud Africa, said the new Cloud Region would help users, developers, businesses and educational institutions across Africa to move more information and tools online.

Mr Patel said it would improve access options for customers and, in turn, create jobs and explained that Google believed in growing an open and healthy ecosystem of technology solutions to support Africa’s digital transformation goals.

He noted that establishing the cloud would lead to more business opportunities in Africa. According to him, It is part of the company-wide ethics to respect the environment, which is why it operates the cleanest cloud in the industry, supporting sustainable digital transformation.

‘’Along with the cloud region, we are expanding our network through the Equiano subsea cable and building Dedicated Cloud Interconnect sites in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Lagos and Nairobi,” Mr Patel disclosed. “In doing so, we are building full-scale Cloud capability for Africa.”

According to him, while in Kenya, Google Cloud works with Twiga Foods, a technology-driven company addressing and improving food security in Africa.

He said it would help them connect 1,000 farmers to 140,000 vendors, delivering 12,000 orders daily and storing two million kilogrammes of fresh produce.

(NAN)