The Managing Director of Rack Center, one of Nigeria’s Tier 3 Data Center operators, Mr. Tunde Coker has been elected by his African peers as the Secretary General of the newly formed African Data Centre Association, (ADCA). This is even as he has been penciled down to join an array of technological and business experts at this year’s Africa Fintech Summit holding in Lagos, Nigeria to deliver a keynote speech.
Coker was elected at the association’s inaugural meeting recently at the Datacloud Africa Conference in Marrakesh, Morocco, where over 30 African Data Centre operators and Stakeholders voted.
The ADCA was set up to foster the development of the data centre industry on the continent. The composition of the Board spans all geographical areas of the continent, representing the interests of the African commercial data operator’s community and its formation would enhance the understanding and prominence of the industry within and outside the African continent.
Dr Ayotunde Coker, who was recently awarded an Honorary Doctorate Degree brings to ADCA over 30 years of post-graduate Technology and Business experience of working across Africa, Europe, Asia and United States of America.
Other member of the Association elected are Fatoumata Sarr Dieng, Director of Wholesales at Sonatel, Senegal(Orange) elected as President; Wouter Van Hulten of Paix Data Centre Ghana as the Treasurer. Stephane Duproz of Data Centre Africa (Liquid Telecom) South Africa and Kenya, Amine Kandil of N+ One, Morocco, Dr Lawrence Nkala of Tel-One Zimbabwe and Paul Francois Cattier of Schneider Electric, Ivory Coast as Vice Presidents.
Measnwhile, a statement by Rack Center in Lagos has confirmed that Tunder Coker will deliver a keynote speech on the Role of Cloud and Data Services in the Fintech Ecosystems as Africa FinTech Summit holds its first meeting in Lagos, Nigeria.
A check on Coker’s profile shows that he has over 30 years industry experience working with international companies across Europe, USA, Asia and Africa. A former Group Chief Information Officer with Access Bank in Nigeria, he was Digital Services Director for Egg Bank in the UK, Europe’s first pure play Internet Bank 15 years ago and has consulted for global banks such as ABN Amro, UBS, Merrill Lynch and JP Morgan. He asserts that Fintech has been around since his pioneering work at Egg Bank.
Coker’s Rack Centre is one of Africa’s leading data centre colocation providers, the host of the Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria and provides Cloud on GroundTM, the most comprehensive heterogeneous marketplace for cloud services hosted within Rack Centre.
Holding in Nigeria for the first time, the Africa Fintech Summit (AFTS), is a global gathering of innovators, investors, disruptors, technological and finance professionals, regulators, and investors to debate and discuss policies, compare best practices, and forge ventures from across Africa and the rest of the world on the transformation of the continent and unleashing its entrepreneurial spirit.