New CEO for Helios-backed data centre business
Helios-backed East African data centre developer and operator IXAfrica has announced the appointment of Snehar Shah as its new CEO.
For over 15 years, Shah held diverse leadership roles in finance and strategy at the global telecoms operator, Orange, spanning the UK, Europe, and East Africa. Subsequently, in the African startup scene, he built businesses like Eaton Towers as regional CFO, led Azuri Technologies as GM for Africa, and most recently was in charge of Moringa School as CEO.
Tosin Awoyinka, senior vice president at Helios Investment Partners said, “Snehar is both a highly anticipated and welcome addition to the IXAfrica team. Our business is extremely well-placed to facilitate the evolution of the Kenyan and East African digital ecosystem, and Snehar augments this trajectory with his leadership track record, organisational development capabilities and impressive enterprise network.”
Shah said, “The businesses I have led in the telecoms, mobile payments, infrastructure, renewable energy and tech education have formed the pillars that will drive the GDP growth of Africa and as CEO of IXAfrica I am excited to build the leading data centres in the region to accelerate the cloud and AI revolution that is currently happening.”
Prompted by soaring demand for Kenyan internet connectivity from a young and fast-growing population, IXAfrica received a $50 million investment to accelerate development of its Nairobi campus and recently announced a secondary data centre campus.
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