Cassava, Accenture advance Africa’s AI future

Cassava Technologies (Cassava), a global technology leader of African heritage, has entered into a strategic collaboration with Accenture to scale its sovereign AI capabilities across Africa

Accenture will deploy its AI Refinery platform and related technologies to design and deliver sovereign AI solutions powered by Cassava’s GPU-as-a-Service (GPUaaS). These are hosted within Cassava’s secure data centres and enhanced with NVIDIA AI infrastructure. The solutions will enable existing and future Cassava customers to run AI workloads and manage data within their national borders, meeting local requirements and regulations.

The initiative will start in South Africa, with expansion planned in Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, and Nigeria. This phased rollout aligns with Cassava’s ongoing expansion of its data centre facilities across Africa. Cassava will also utilise its continent-wide high-speed, ultra-low-latency fibre broadband network, interlinking its energy-efficient data centres to support AI computing demands.

“AI is opening up exciting new opportunities for sparking innovation, advancing competitiveness and driving growth across Africa,” said Mauro Macchi, CEO of Accenture for Europe, Middle East and Africa. “With our deep, global experience in sovereign cloud and AI, Accenture will help Cassava deliver secure, scalable sovereign AI solutions and reimagine its operations. Together, we will enable organizations across the African continent to adopt AI with confidence and unlock new ways to create value.”

“With our GPUaaS, Cassava will drive the continent’s AI revolution by allowing businesses to access compute power based on their individual needs. This is our commitment to ensuring Africa has the infrastructure and access it needs to compete in the AI era – AI isn’t just a technology story; it’s a nation-building story with inclusion at its centre,” said Ahmed El Beheiry, CEO of Cassava AI. “Collaborating with Accenture allows us to leverage their global expertise in building a sovereign AI cloud capability designed for the African market. This partnership will strengthen data governance, drive practical AI adoption across key industries, and ensure that we provide African solutions for African challenges.”

As part of this collaboration, both companies will integrate regional context, languages, and cultural nuances into the AI solutions, ensuring they are locally relevant and impactful. Target sectors include financial services, mining, telecommunications, agriculture, and healthcare. This localised strategy will reinforce compliance and trust while ensuring that technology reflects market realities, enabling businesses to innovate sustainably.

Cassava will invest in infrastructure and platform development to prepare for commercialisation, focusing on scalability, security, and compliance. This reinforces the company’s wider commitment to responsible AI adoption, innovation, and productivity growth in Africa.