American multinational technology company, Oracle has announced plans to invest $1 million to support African tech start-ups, seeking to help accelerate their digital initiatives with the latest cloud technologies and business resources over the next two years.
Cloud credits of up to $10,000 for 100 startups will be made available as part of this program. Hands-on technical support, executive mentoring, go-to-market resources, and customer engagements will also be offered to startups.
This program follows Oracle’s announcement of the opening of its first cloud region in Johannesburg, South Africa to meet the rapidly growing demand for enterprise cloud services on the continent. The company said the Oracle Cloud in Johannesburg will boost cloud adoption across Africa while also helping businesses achieve better performance and drive continuous innovation.
According to Africa Data Centres Association (ACDA), Africa require 700s new facilities – for a total of 1000 MW – to meet demand, and bring the rest of the continent on a level with the data centre density and capacity of South Africa.
However, the building of these data centres in other African countries is hampered by different challenges including lack of infrastructure, high temperatures and lack of skilled labour.
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