Liquid Telecom and Strathmore Partner to Drive Africa’s Data Revolution

Liquid Telecom has partnered with Strathmore Business School (SBS) in setting up a data analytics centre focused on data-driven research and practices for African businesses.

Under the partnership, Liquid Telecom will provide the new Strathmore Africa Analytics Data Centre with dedicated rackspace and colocation services at East Africa Data Centre (EADC); the region’s largest and only Tier III certified data centre.

Liquid Telecom will establish a direct fibre link between the SBS campus and EADC in Nairobi, which will facilitate data analytic services such as data mining, predictive analysis and exploratory data analysis.

“A data revolution is coming to Africa, bringing with it the need for new skills and infrastructure to help businesses unlock the true potential of Big Data. By providing Strathmore Business School with access to our world-class facilities at EADC, we hope to provide a platform for innovation in analytics as well as develop joint solutions to some of the challenges being presented by large volumes of data on consumers,” said Dan Kwach, General Manager at EADC.

“Businesses in Africa now have a lot of data about their customers and their buying behaviour. So far a lack of skills in data science has prevented businesses from using that data for strategic decision making. Through this partnership, Liquid Telecom and SBS will help provide companies with the tools and learning they need to achieve real improvements in performance,” said Ben Roberts, Group Chief Technology and Innovation Officer (CTIO) at Liquid Telecom.

Increasing collaboration between industry and academia will be key to both unlocking the opportunities and addressing the challenges of Big Data in Africa.

Through the new Strathmore Africa Business Analytic Data Centre, SBS aims to develop a world class environment for training, skills enhancement and application of data in Africa policy, innovation and business decision-making.

The Dean of Strathmore Business School Dr. George Njenga said that Strathmore envisions a data centre that will cultivate data analytics to help executive entrepreneurs and government make data-driven decisions.

“We feel it is our moral duty to include new data modules into the entire curriculum of our university,” added Dr George Njenga.