Google has plans to identify a new Google Cloud region in South Africa.
This is their first cloud on the mainland.
The news, which came at the Google for Africa event, is the latest example of how Google is delivering on the billion-dollar investment commitment made last year by the company’s chief executive, Sundar Pichai.
The new cloud region will help Africa’s users, developers, businesses and educational establishments move more data and equipment online, access features for consumers and, in turn, create jobs.
According to a study by AlphaBeta Economics commissioned by Google Cloud, South Africa’s cloud region will contribute more than 2100 million cumulative dollars to the country’s GDP and the creation of more than 40 000 jobs until 2030. Google Cloud is already working with consumers around the world. the continent, helping them solve critical business challenges, connect and access the benefits of virtual technology.
In South Africa, Google Cloud is running with the flagship store TakeAlot for its 3 million local consumers to enjoy an enhanced online grocery shopping experience.
TakeAlot built its e-commerce platform on Google Cloud, allowing the company to avoid periods of disruption from the highest-traffic formula like Black Friday.
In Kenya, Google Cloud is running with Twiga Foods and helping them link 1,000 farmers with 140,000 suppliers, delivering 12,000 orders every day and stockpiling two million kilograms of new agricultural products. Earlier this year, Google announced plans to open its first African product progression center in Nairobi to expand and build better products for Africans and the world.
In addition, Google announced the launch of voice input for nine other African languages on Gboard, Google’s keyboard (isiNdebele, isiXhosa, Kinyarwanda, Northern Sotho, Swati, Sesotho, Tswana, Tshivenda and Xitsonga), while there are now 24 new ed. on languages. Google Translate, adding lingala, which is used by more than forty-five million people in Central Africa.
To make Maps more useful, Google also updated Street View in Kenya, South Africa, Senegal and Nigeria with approximately 300,000 kilometers of imagery.
This is helping other people explore and navigate neighborhoods practically on Google Maps.
They are also expanding the service to Rwanda, meaning Street View is now available in 11 African countries.
Africa’s economy has the prospect of growing at $180 billion by 2025, or 5. 2% of the continent’s GDP.
To help African marketers expand and expand their talents, Google continues to help African small businesses through Hustle Academy and Google Business Profiles and helps task seekers gain the skills they want through progression scholarships and professional certifications.
Google, through its $50 million investment fund in Africa that aims for fair investments in tech startups, has since invested in three companies in the past nine months: SafeBoda, a shipping app in Uganda and Nigeria, Carry1st, a mobile gaming startup from South Africa, and Lori Systems. , an e-logistics company in Kenya.
Milestones come with the submarine cable, Equiano, which currently runs across Togo, Nigeria, Namibia and South Africa, and is expected to provide a faster and cheaper network to the continent by connecting St. Helena, Togo, Nigeria, Namibia and South Africa. Africa with Europe.
A recent economic impact assessment by Africa Practice and Genesis Analytics found that through 2025, cable is expected to drive economic growth, with Nigeria’s GDP growing at $10. 1 billion, South Africa’s $7 billion and Namibia’s growing at $260 million.
At the same time, Equiano is expected to create 1. 6 million jobs in Nigeria, 180,000 in South Africa and 21,000 in Namibia, driven by the expansion of the virtual economy and peripheral sectors.
The government of Ghana is proud of our partnership with several Google initiatives.
Google also supports nonprofits seeking lives in Africa with a $40 million in cash and in-kind commitment.
Last year, 7,500 professional scholarships were awarded to help other young people learn new skills and develop their careers, while Uganda’s AirQo won a $3 million grant for the expansion of its work on air quality monitoring from Kampala to ten cities in five countries. continent.
Google recently partnered with the UN to launch the Global Africa Business Initiative (GABI), a partnership to drive Africa’s economic expansion and sustainable development.
Niral Patel, Head of Google Cloud Africa, said: “We are creating an open and healthy ecosystem of generation responses to help Africa’s virtual transformation goals, opening up more opportunities for businesses. Respecting the environment is a component of our business philosophy. , so we have the cleanest cloud in the industry, helping a sustainable virtual transformation,” he added. “Together with the cloud region, we are expanding our network through the Equiano submarine cable and building compromised cloud interconnection sites in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Lagos and Nairobi. In doing so, we are building large-scale cloud capacity for Africa.
Philly Mapulane (South Africa), Deputy Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies: “Our National Development Plan 2030 calls for stimulating the expansion of the information, communications and generation (ICT) sector and innovation by encouraging public and personal investment in ICT, specifically in networks. Google’s recent efforts in this regard have been particularly encouraging. African.