Emma Okonji
Six months after it acquired MainOne, for $320 million, Equinix, a global digital infrastructure company, has rolled out its expansion plan for the Nigerian and West African markets.
The plan, it stated, is designed to augment its long-term strategy to become a leading African carrier-neutral digital infrastructure company on the continent.
Also, Equinix has presented its 2022 Global Tech Trends Survey, which focused on 100 business leaders in Nigeria, in the areas of supply chain, cybersecurity and recruitment.
Presenting the expansion plan at a media parley in Lagos, the General Manager, Nigeria Sales at MainOne, an Equinix Company, Mrs. Bunmi Ogun, said MainOne would be partnering AMSIX to deploy leading global internet exchange presence in Lagos, which will increase local peering of traffic in Nigeria.
“It will also extend Equinix fibre to Lagos, to enable interconnection of Lagos Data Centres with Equinix Data Centres globally, while using AfriConnect Service offering to bring new content providers to West Africa,” Ogun said.
The Director, Digital Transformation and GTM Strategy at Equinix, Mr. Matt George, who presented the survey report, said over half of businesses in Nigeria were already planning to expand locally, despite supply chain, cybersecurity and recruitment challenges.
He said as part of the Equinix 2022 Global Tech Trends Survey, 100 business leaders in Nigeria were interviewed about the opportunities and challenges their organisations are facing, and their plans for the future.
The data revealed that there are huge opportunities for Nigeria’s businesses to successfully expand into new markets and reach new customers.
According to the report, 54 per cent of respondents are planning on expanding in an existing country in the next 12 months, 34 per cent into a new region and 33 per cent into a new country, while 93 per cent of Information Technology (IT) leaders in Nigeria said enhancing customer experience remained a priority for them.
The report however said a number of potentially limiting factors were identified by businesses when it came to global growth including concerns and challenges in supply chain, cyber security, and staff retention and recruitment.
In the area of supply chain challenges, the report explained that 55 per cent said their business was plagued by global supply chain issues and shortages, while 50 per cent specified the global microchip shortage as a threat to their business.
In the area of cybersecurity challenges, the report said there were some significant concerns around cybersecurity in Nigeria.
“As part of their digital-first strategies, 85 per cent of respondents in Nigeria confirmed a key priority is improving cybersecurity. 88 per cent said complying with local market data regulations was critical, while 85 per cent highlighted the need to future-proof their businesses. According to IT specialists in Nigeria, the most feared threats were cyberattacks at 73 per cent, security breaches and data leaks 68 per cent,” the report said.
On staff retention and recruitment, the report said despite having one of the youngest populations and workforces in the world, 58 per cent of IT decision makers in Nigeria, viewed shortage of personnel with IT skills as one of the main threats to their business. The survey showed that among the most common concerns for businesses in Nigeria are candidates with the wrong skill sets applying for jobs at 56 per cent, pay and compensation at 49 per cent, changing expectations around ways of working at 41 per cent, and the retention of current talent at 38 per cent.
Managing Director, MainOne, an Equinix Company, Funke Opeke, said: “The acceleration in digital transformation in Nigeria reinforces the need for businesses to have access to single points to interconnect locally. Increased speed of connectivity, increased flexibility of connectivity, and reduced cost of connectivity were identified by IT decision-makers in Nigeria as the most beneficial aspects of interconnection. MainOne provides a rich interconnection ecosystem that allows customers connect to each other multiple telecoms networks, and Cloud, Payment and Content Providers in a single location.”
