Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced the opening of its first office in Nigeria which will be situated in Lagos state. This is coming five years after it opened its first office in Johannesburg. This will bring AWS closer to African startups.
In recent years, international cloud computing companies like IBM, Huawei, Microsoft and Google have moved to develop data centres in Africa as a means of establishing their presence on the African continent. This indicates that the African connectivity and cloud computing market holds immense opportunities and is generating global interest. The rise in number of startups in Africa which are mostly software companies has led to an increased need for cloud computing services and the quality of these services improves with proximity of cloud servers to locations where requests are coming from. Amazon Web Services already has 26 regions in operation and 8 under development in the world.
The Lagos office is AWS’s latest investment in Africa and is a means of supporting the growing number of customers and partners adopting AWS services. The service will accommodate organizations of all sizes, including startups, enterprises, and public sector agencies seeking to use AWS products and services to innovate, lower their information technology (IT) budget, and grow their organizations in the cloud.
Amrote Abdellah speaks
Speaking in the new development, theregional manager of Sub -Saharan Africa at AWS, Amrote Abdella said “Lagos offers a highly skilled and creative talent pool, and the area is home to many fast-growing startups and notable Nigerian enterprises leading the way in digital innovation. We look forward to fostering the country’s pioneering spirit and helping our customers accelerate their digital transformation as they deliver innovative new products and services to the Nigerian community”.
Nigeria’s minister of communications and digital economy, Isa Pantami, welcomed the innovation and said, “we look forward to partnering with AWS to accelerate the implementation of National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS).”
AWS programmes
For 15 years, Amazon Web Services has been the world’s most extensive and broadly adopted cloud offering. It has actively fostered the transition of Nigerian companies to the cloud through programmes like AWS Activate and AWS educational programs like AWS Academy, AWS Educate and AWS re/Start have helped to equip students, educators and startups with knowledge and skills about AWS Cloud computing.
