CASSAVA Technologies, the tech firm founded by Zimbabwean telecoms magnate Strive Masiyiwa, dealt a blow to President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s “Open for Business” mantra last week.
Their announcement that they would be building Africa’s first artificial intelligence factory in South Africa, in partnership with leading AI chipmaker Nvidia, represents a missed opportunity for Zimbabwe.
Mnangagwa, fresh from seizing power in November 2017 via a military coup, threw open doors to the world, pitching Zimbabwe as the premier business destination.
On paper, this looked like a masterstroke strategy to attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). However, time and again, the government has been its own worst enemy, shooting itself in the foot with policies and practices that deter investors.
Nvidia’s supercomputers, powered by graphic processing units, or GPUs (the workhorse chips behind AI), will be deployed at Cassava’s data centres in South Africa from as early as June, with plans to roll them out across the company’s other facilities in Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, and Nigeria.
This is a clear indication that, where AI development is concerned, South Africa will be punching above its weight in the coming years.
Speaking in Kigali, Rwanda, at the Inaugural Global AI Summit on Africa, Masiyiwa was blunt about his reasons for side-lining Zimbabwe and other African nations due to their less-than-stellar business environments.
Masiyiwa emphasised the need for African leaders to cultivate a pro-investor ecosystem.
“I cannot overemphasise the need for our leaders to create an ecosystem for investment because people like me stepping forward and going out to raise billions of dollars to buy these chips, we can only go to where it is investor friendly,” he said.
He added, underlining his point with a stark warning: “We won’t come back and tell you your investment environment doesn’t work. We just walk away. So, we’ve got to talk to each other. You’ve got to listen to what we feel we need to comfortably raise the capital to do this.”
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Minister Tatenda Mavetera acknowledged the uphill battle in creating a favourable business climate that attracts investment, particularly in the ICT sector.
“Our ministry is prioritising: Streamlining regulations to fast-track tech infrastructure projects, Incentivising R&D (research and development) partnerships and private-sector co-investment and building secure digital ecosystems with reliable power, connectivity and talent pipelines,” Mavetera posted on her X account Saturday.
She added: “More investor friendly policies in the ICT sector are essential and urgent. Let’s deepen this dialogue.
“We are working on a lot of policies e.g ICT start up and venture capital policy, fintech and cryptocurrency policy and also look at implementing tax incentives in the ICT sector so that we position Zimbabwe as the next tech hub,” Mavetera further wrote.
Masiyiwa famously navigated a hostile environment in the 1990s to establish Econet Wireless and has publicly thanked the late Vice President Joshua Nkomo for his support in founding Econet.
Mnangagwa’s critics were quick to accuse the Zanu-PF leader of a monumental blunder.
Masiyiwa’s decision to establish the AI factory in South Africa has been interpreted by many as an own goal that has left Zimbabwe in the digital doldrums.
