By Ross Moyo

The recent appointments by Econet Wireless Zimbabwe highlight Strive Masiyiwa’s withdrawal from leadership in the company to focus on the growth of a new phenomenon sweeping the tech space: AI.

This is according to deductions made by Strive Masiyiwa, who on the other hand, seems more interested in AI, with a $720 million investment set for establishing AI factories across Africa

Strive Masiyiwa’s focus on Artificial Intelligence according to recent reports show that Zimbabwe’s richest man, has taken a keen interest in the proliferation of AI.

This is highlighted by major investments in the field, given his plans to build five artificial intelligence (AI) factories across Africa within the next year, as part of a $720 million investment through his company Cassava Technologies.

The factories are set to be built in Egypt, Morocco, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa.

The objective, according to Masiyiwa, is to lessen dependency on foreign cloud providers by providing major African markets with access to their own cutting-edge AI infrastructure.

The Zimbabwean billionaire described his plan as part of Cassava’s “Sovereign AI Cloud” strategy, which aims to allow African countries to host and run their own AI systems locally.

In recent years, he has expanded Cassava from telecoms into cloud computing, fintech, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence.

The first AI factory is already under development in South Africa.

It will include around 3,000 powerful Nvidia graphics processors, which are the type of hardware used to train and run AI systems.

Many African universities, researchers, and startups have already booked space to use this computing power.

This comes just after Strive Masiyiwa surpassed Patrice Motsepe to become the richest black man in Southern Africa.