Airtel Africa Foundation has inducted the first Nigerian cohort of the Airtel Africa Tech Fellowship that offers fully paid scholarships for students pursuing undergraduate courses in science, technology, engineering and mathematics across the continent.

During a ceremony held at Airtel Nigeria headquarters in Lagos, Airtel Africa Foundation’s Chairman, Dr Segun Ogunsanya, alongside Airtel Nigeria’s CEO, Dinesh Balsingh, presented the full-ride scholarship awards to 70 students from universities across Nigeria.

The undergraduates studying technology courses, were drawn from the University of Lagos, Obafemi Awolowo University, the University of Benin, Tai Solarin University of Education, the University of Ilorin, Ahmadu Bello University, and the University of Nigeria.

Selected from thousands of applicants through an independently managed process, which took nearly six months, these fellows are beneficiaries of Airtel Africa Foundation’s continentwide financial aid programme, which covers tuition, laptop computers, living expenses, and essential learning resources. The Nigerian cohort joins a prestigious network of Airtel Africa Foundation fellows currently studying in Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Uganda, and India.

In his address, Dr. Ogunsanya, emphasised the need for initiatives such as the Airtel Africa Foundation’s undergraduate tech scholarship for the future of the continent.

The Airtel Africa Foundation Chairman said, “True legacy is not measured by the awards we win or the volume of SIM cards we sell; it is measured by the lives we save, the people we feed, and the students we support when the line between success and failure is at its thinnest.

At the Airtel Africa Foundation, we believe that lifting people out of poverty is the ultimate benchmark of a great company. Today, we are writing that legacy by tilting the balance in favour of the brilliant but underserved, ensuring that the fourth industrial revolution, driven by AI and Data Science is built by African talent for the African continent.”

Dr Ogunsanya further revealed that this fellowship, executed through Airtel Nigeria, is designed to bridge the gap where funding, skills, and opportunity often fail to meet. In addition to the N500,000 yearly budget for the fellows’ four-year or five-year courses, each fellow would be integrated into a structured support system for academic guidance and career mentorship, intended to ultimately transition students from the classroom to the global tech workforce.

Addressing the students, Mr Balsingh emphasised that youth development is a strategic imperative for Airtel.

He said, “At Airtel Nigeria, we view youth development as essential nation-building. When young people succeed, innovation accelerates, and social stability improves. By connecting these brilliant scholars to knowledge, skills, and confidence, we are fulfilling our core mission to connect people to opportunity.

“To our recipients: you earned your place here through merit and discipline. You are now ambassadors of excellence, and we expect your leadership to be defined by your conduct as you help shape a more inclusive digital future for Nigeria.”

The initiative underscores a broader commitment to technology education, youth development, and Nigeria’s digital economy. By aligning academic excellence with industry requirements, Airtel Africa Foundation and Airtel Nigeria continue to demonstrate their dedication to skills as the new currency in a rapidly evolving global market.

Dimension Data Nigeria has formally executed its N20 billion ($15m) Bond Programme under Dimension Data SPV Funding Plc, following approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The signing ceremony, which marked the completion of the programme documentation and regulatory clearances, was held recently at the Capital Club, Victoria Island, Lagos.

Speaking during the signing ceremony, Gbenga Olabiyi, Managing Director of Dimension Data Nigeria, explained that the capital raise is focused on long-term value creation. “Sustained infrastructure investment is essential to maintaining competitiveness and unlocking future growth. When deployed thoughtfully, infrastructure secures the business, future-proofs operations, and allows efficient scaling as data demand and complexity increase.”

Nigeria continues to face significant digital infrastructure gaps, including limited metro and access fiber coverage, constrained enterprise connectivity, and rising demand driven by cloud adoption, fintech, digital public services and artificial intelligence. These gaps increase costs, limit service quality, and slow the country’s digital economy.

Olabiyi said the bond programme is designed to help expand critical digital infrastructure capacity, strengthen network resilience, and support enterprise and carrier-grade services needed to meet Nigeria’s growing data and connectivity requirements.

He also expressed appreciation to the company’s advisers and partners for their professionalism and support throughout the process and signaled his intention to continue working closely with them as Dimension Data moves into subsequent phases of funding and execution.

In his comments, Shatse Kakwagh, Managing Partner, Mbavaa Partners Limited, the Private Equity company backing Dimension Data Limited, described the transaction as a watershed moment for the company and a validation of its long-term infrastructure strategy.

“This is a journey we began years ago, and it proves that the opportunities we see in the market can be realised,” Shatse said. “We believe strongly in working with partners to address the critical infrastructure deficit in Nigeria and across Africa. This programme enables us to secure the right type of capital to finance the aggressive growth we have planned.”

He noted that the bond programme has received a strong vote of confidence from rating agencies. At the same time, the company’s first market issuance was heavily oversubscribed, reflecting investor belief in Dimension Data’s ability to execute and deliver at scale.

The transaction advisers on the bond programme include Pathway Advisors Limited as Book Runner; Greychapel Legal and Alliance Law Firm as Solicitors; CardinalStone Registrars Limited and STL Trustees Limited as Registrar and Trustees; Deloitte & Touche as Reporting Accountant alongside Mascot Okpori & Co as Auditors; Fidelity Bank as Receiving Bank; and Agusto & Co as Rating Agency.

In the wake of increasing geopolitical tension, Cassava Technologies has unveiled its National Sovereign Cloud offering for African governments.

The solution, the company claims, will help the continent’s governments ensure data is kept on infrastructure that remains under local legal and operational jurisdiction.

According to the official announcement, made yesterday, the solution provides “secure, locally-governed digital infrastructure that enables the deployment of AI-enabled public services”.

The overarching solution encompasses cloud, cyber security, AI computing infrastructure, as well as local language AI models and skills support for governments.

The announcement comes amid increasing uncertainty over the hosting of sensitive national data on cloud services operated by foreign hyperscalers, which are subject to legal frameworks, such as the U.S. CLOUD Act. The CLOUD Act opens the door to allow American authorities to access data stored on the servers of US hyperscalers, wherever those servers are physically located.

Cassava has claimed separately that currently, “approximately 33% to 45% of the world’s data is hosted in the USA”.

The company added: “A sovereign cloud reduces exposure to extraterritorial laws, improves cyber resilience, and ensures that model weights and training data for public AI remain under national custody.”

The Africa Data Centres Association’s 2026 Economic Report states that “data sovereignty has evolved from a legal aspiration into a strategic policy lever”.

Ahmed El Beheiry, Group COO and Group Chief Technology and AI Officer, Cassava Technologies said: “Across Africa, governments are accelerating their digital transformation agendas and are increasingly focused on ensuring that data and digital infrastructure remain secure and sovereign.”

Announced at the Mobile Word Congress in Barcelona, this week, the Sovereign Cloud offering launch accompanied the launch of Cassava’s Cloud Partner programme.

The partner programme targets mobile network operators and system integrators across Africa to resell and distribute AI, cloud, and other digital services using Cassava’s infrastructure and technology platforms.

El Beheiry added: “We are expanding Africa’s sovereign AI ecosystem to build solutions that address the continent’s unique challenges while creating new opportunities for growth and digital inclusion.”

The programme offers partners access to NVIDIA Cloud Partner solutions, Cassava’s AI Factory, its own native AI solutions and its AI Multi-Model Exchange, which supports both Anthropic’s Claude and Google’s Gemini models.