Connect with us
Anglostratits

Business

GITEX Africa 2024 – OVHcloud partners with Maroc Datacenter to fulfill its development ambitions in Africa with the opening of its first Local Zone in Morocco

Published

2 years ago

on

OVHcloud

The new Local Zone in Rabat offers Moroccan customers new opportunities to access the Group’s Public Cloud services, with reduced latency and local data hosting

ROUBAIX, France, May 30, 2024/APO Group/ — 

OVHcloud (www.OVHCloud.com/fr/), the European leader in cloud computing, will be taking part in GITEX AFRICA Morocco 2024 (www.GITEXAFRICA.com) in Marrakech. On this occasion, the Group is announcing the first opening of a Local Zone on the African continent, with operations scheduled to begin in Rabat in the coming months. This news demonstrates OVHcloud’s commitment in Africa to offer trusted cloud solutions.

Launch in Morocco: a key step in the deployment strategy of Local Zone in Africa

The announcement was made official with the signature of a partnership between Maroc Datacenter, a specialist in the construction and operation of data centers in Morocco, and OVHcloud. This strong partnership will also see Maroc Datacenter support OVHcloud to tailor its offerings on the Moroccan market. In addition, OVHcloud announces further deployments, including the opening of Local Zones in South Africa, Kenya and Tunisia for 2025.

“We are delighted to enter a partnership with OVHcloud Group, a global player and the European leader in the cloud. The launch of a Local Zone in Morocco will contribute to empower the kingdom digital ecosystem by offering innovative cloud platforms and provide public and private organisations with cloud services offering guarantees of data sovereignty and low latency. We are glad OVHcloud has chosen Morocco as the first country on the African continent to launch the Local Zone and has placed its trust in Maroc Datacenter. We would like to thank Orange Morocco for supporting us in this launch by providing its national and international connectivity capabilities.” says Abderrahmane Mounir, Chairman of Maroc Datacenter.

As part of its global growth plan in the Cloud market, OVHcloud aims to open up to 150 Local Zones by 2026. Based on innovative technology, Local Zones enable the Group to deploy infrastructures as close as possible to its customers, using Edge Computing principles, to serve new international locations in just a couple weeks. In addition to the Local Zones previously opened in Brussels, Madrid, Marseille, Prague, Amsterdam, Zurich and Dallas, the new Local Zone in Rabat offers Moroccan customers new opportunities to access the Group’s Public Cloud services, with reduced latency and local data hosting.

Thanks to this, Moroccan customers will benefit from the unique offering of OHVcloud for an open, trusted cloud, with data located as close as possible to the user. The data, hosted within the geographical limits defined by local regulations or security policies, allows customers to be confident: which proves essential for a number of industries, including consulting, financial services and healthcare.

From now on, companies and institutions will be able to take advantage of the Local Zones to rely on more secure, faster and more efficient services

Workloads with latency-sensitive services, such as real-time analytics, e-commerce websites, CDNs for streaming video and catch-up, and cloud gaming, will benefit from the Local Zone proximity for increased response times for a better user experience. For most customers, OVHcloud Local Zones offer single-digit millisecond latency times, enabling use cases such as high-performance gaming from the Cloud with very low latency.

‘Today’s launch of the first Local Zone in Rabat is an important milestone in OVHcloud’s relationship with Morocco and confirms the Group’s ambition to extend its offering to organisations operating in Africa. From now on, companies and institutions will be able to take advantage of the Local Zones to rely on more secure, faster and more efficient services, facilitating the digital transformation of the Moroccan ecosystem before moving on to serve new locations on the continent. Known as one of the main technology hubs in Africa, Morocco is a strategic market for us, with specific features needs and high requirements, particularly in terms of data sovereignty.’, said Caroline Comet-Fraigneau, Vice-President for France, Benelux, Africa and the Middle East at OVHcloud.

From the Local Zones, organisations can take advantage of Public Cloud features such as Compute, Block Storage and the network with a local public IP. Additional services will be offered in the coming months, including access to Object Storage and Managed Rancher Service for Kubernetes management, in multi-cloud environments.

OVHcloud’s new Local Zones are also ISO/IEC 27001 certified, in addition to the requirements of ISO/IEC 27017 standards, specific to the cloud services industry and ISO/IEC 27018 for the protection of personal data. These certifications ensure that businesses can deploy services in an OVHcloud environment to meet the highest security standards.

A dynamic community of customers and start-ups

With more than 6,000 customers already in Morocco, OVHcloud is strengthening its ties with the local ecosystem. The Group is also demonstrating its intention to accelerate its support to Moroccan start-ups (several dozen of which, such as Omniup and Digishare, are already part of the OVHcloud network- Startup.OVHCloud.com/). As a reminder, the OVHcloud Startup Program offers its members a wide range of commitments, including development advice, tailored technical support and no-obligation cloud credits to help them launch new projects and accelerate go-to-market timeline.

Availability

Available this summer, the Rabat Local Zone will enable Public Cloud services to be deployed directly from the OVHcloud customer interface.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of GITEX Africa.

Related Topics:
Continue Reading
Advertisement

Business

Asia’s premier flower hub sets new benchmarks in trading scale and logistics efficiency

Published

4 minutes ago

on

September 3, 2026

By

Dounan Flower Market

YUNNAN, CHINA – Media OutReach Newswire – 3 September 2026 – The Dounan Flower Market in Kunming, southwest China’s Yunnan Province, is strengthening its position as a leading flower trading hub in Asia, with record annual trading volumes, high-speed auction operations and increasingly efficient international logistics.

The Kunming International Flora Auction Trading Center, a key trading platform within Dounan, begins daily trading at 1:00 p.m. Buyers can complete bids within as little as 0.6 seconds as prices decrease on electronic auction screens, enabling large volumes of fresh-cut flowers to be traded rapidly.

The market experienced a significant increase in trading activity ahead of the Qixi Festival, widely regarded as China’s Valentine’s Day. Tens of millions of flower stems were sold to domestic and international markets during the peak trading period.
 




 

According to the Kunming International Flora Auction Trading Center, the average price of major fresh-cut flower categories reached 1.1 to 1.3 yuan per stem during the pre-festival period, approximately 15 percent higher than pre-festival levels. Premium flowers recorded substantially higher prices, with high-quality roses reaching nearly 15 yuan ($2.23) per stem.

In 2025, Dounan recorded a trading volume of 15.476 billion fresh-cut flowers, with total transaction value reaching 13.484 billion yuan (approximately $2 billion).

The market currently hosts 3,300 enterprises and more than 15,000 business entities and individual proprietors. Of Dounan’s approximately 70,000 permanent residents, 46,500 are employed in the flower industry.

Approximately seven out of every 10 fresh-cut flowers sold in China originate from Dounan. Its distribution network now reaches markets across China as well as more than 50 countries and regions worldwide.

High-Speed Auction System

Dounan’s auction system is designed to accommodate the highly time-sensitive nature of fresh-cut flowers.

“Field-grown ‘Purple Glow’ (75 percent maturity), 140 stems; field-grown ‘Beloved’ (80 percent maturity), 120 stems; ‘Beloved’ (75 percent maturity), 120 stems…” said Li Qian, a flower auctioneer at the Kunming International Flora Auction Trading Center.

The trading center uses a descending-price auction model, with prices continuously decreasing on electronic screens. Buyers must respond within approximately 0.6 seconds, allowing transactions to be completed rapidly and supporting the high turnover required by the fresh-cut flower industry.

“Since fresh flowers are perishable goods, we use a descending-price auction format. This helps facilitate rapid circulation,” Li said.

The auction process is integrated with sorting, packaging and transportation operations, reducing the time between trading and shipment.

Logistics Network Expands International Reach

Fresh-cut flowers require particularly efficient logistics because their quality is highly sensitive to transportation and storage time.

Tang Minghong, a client manager with the flower logistics division of SF Express Yunnan, said fresh flowers have among the most demanding logistics requirements in the fresh produce sector.

Trading begins in the afternoon, while pickup, packaging and dispatch can be completed as early as 3:00 a.m., allowing flowers to move quickly from auction facilities into domestic distribution networks.

For international shipments, Dounan has established logistics routes to destinations including Singapore, South Korea and Malaysia. Customers in these markets can receive shipments within two days, according to logistics operators.

Strengthening Yunnan’s Global Flower Trade

The combination of large-scale flower production, centralized trading, high-speed auctions and integrated logistics has enabled Dounan to develop a comprehensive supply and distribution network.

The market connects flower growers in Yunnan with buyers and consumers throughout China and overseas, while supporting the expansion of the province’s fresh-cut flower industry into international markets.

With billions of stems traded annually and distribution covering more than 50 countries and regions, Dounan is emerging as an important regional hub for fresh-cut flower trading and distribution, contributing to the international growth of China’s flower industry.
 




 

Continue Reading

Business

Unstoppable Africa 2026 to bring African and global Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and leaders to New York to drive investment, ownership and growth across the continent

Published

7 hours ago

on

September 3, 2026

By

The program will focus on how Africa can capture more value from its critical minerals, strengthen infrastructure and trade, mobilise capital at scale and build more integrated and competitive markets

NEW YORK, United States of America, September 2, 2026/APO Group/ –More than 2,000 African and global business leaders plus heads of state will gather in New York on September 20–21 for Unstoppable Africa, flagship event of the Global Africa Business Initiative (GABI) (https://www.GABI.biz/).
 




 

Convened by UN Secretary-General António Guterres and H.E. Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, Chairperson of the African Union Commission, and organized and coordinated by the UN Global Compact, the fifth edition of Unstoppable Africa will convene under the theme “Powering Business, Scaling Economies, Shaping the Future”.

Held on the sidelines of the opening of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly, Unstoppable Africa will feature leading  investors, policymakers, creatives, sports executives and decision-makers working to accelerate Africa’s business, trade and investment and amplify its role in shaping global markets.

Sanda Ojiambo, Assistant Secretary-General and CEO of the United Nations Global Compact, said: “This year, we are sharpening the focus on mobilising capital, forging partnerships, building businesses and turning Africa’s assets and opportunities into investable, scalable outcomes. The ambition is not simply to shape how the world sees Africa, but to shape where global capital flows, where value is created and how Africa can capture it.”

The ambition is not simply to shape how the world sees Africa, but to shape where global capital flows, where value is created and how Africa can capture it

The high-level convening comes at a time of global supply chains being redrawn by geopolitical tension, energy insecurity and shifting trade rules. For the African continent, these pressures  create an opportunity to leverage its critical minerals, renewable energy potential, expanding consumer markets and young workforce to attract long-term capital and capture more value from global shifts.

Unstoppable Africa 2026 will look at how the continent can turn these shifts into lasting economic opportunity.  The program will focus on how Africa can capture more value from its critical minerals, strengthen infrastructure and trade, mobilise capital at scale and build more integrated and competitive markets. Discussions will also explore Africa’s energy transition, the development and ownership of AI and digital infrastructure, the financing and global distribution of African creative industries, and how sport can become a stronger engine for investment, talent development and economic growth.

Other confirmed speakers include:

  • H.E. Julius Maada Bio, President, Republic of Sierra Leone
  • H.E. Duma Gideon Boko, President, Republic of Botswana
  • H.E. Paula Ingabire, Minister of ICT and Innovation, Rwanda
  • Samaila Zubairu, President and CEO, African Finance Corporation
  • Nolitha Fakude, Chairperson, Anglo American South Africa
  • Tidjane Thiam, General Partner, Allied Critical Minerals Fund
  • Phuthi Mahanyele-Dabengwa, CEO and Executive Director, Naspers
  • Olugbenga Agboola, CEO, Flutterwave
  • Cameron Bailey, CEO, Toronto International Film Festival
  • Wanuri Kahiu, filmmaker
  • Akunna Cook, Founder and CEO, Next Narrative Africa Fund
  • Luol Deng, former NBA All-Star and President, South Sudan Basketball Federation
  • Clare Akamanzi, CEO, NBA Africa
  • Amina J. Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General, United Nations
  • Massad Boulos, Senior Advisor to the President of the United States on Arab and African Affairs
  • Damilola Ogunbiyi, CEO and Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All

The five themes of GABI and Unstoppable Africa, namely Energy, Digital Transformation, Trade, Creative Industries, and Sport, will be supported by high-level plenaries, CEO and investor roundtables, ministerial dialogues, startup showcases, and GABI Solutions Labs. The 2026 edition will create opportunities to spark transactions, develop investment vehicles, and form cross-border alliances and partnerships. Full implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area could create a $3.4 trillion market, according to UNCTAD’s 2024 Economic Development in Africa Report, highlighting the scale of the opportunity as regional integration deepens.

Once again, the event will be hosted by Folly Bah Thibault, Senior News Anchor at Al Jazeera Media Network, and Larry Madowo, International Correspondent at CNN, and will spotlight more than 500 nominees in the Unstoppable Africans campaign.

Media partners to date include African Business/New African; African Renewal; Afrique Media; AllAfrica; Arise News; Business Digest Magazine; Citizen TV; EIB Network; Envoy Magazine; The Kenyan Wall Street; News Central TV; SDG News; The Africa Report; The Nation Media Group; TIME Africa.

Unstoppable Africa 2026 will take place at the New York Marriott Marquis, Times Square, 1535 Broadway, New York City. Accredited media and other eligible communication professionals can register at https://apo-opa.co/4xvM3xh.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Global Africa Business Initiative.

 

 




 

Continue Reading

Business

New DHL-Absa Partnership Opens Global Trade Opportunities for African Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SME)

Published

7 hours ago

on

September 3, 2026

By

DHL

By combining DHL’s logistics expertise with Absa Group’s extensive banking, digital and financial capabilities, the partnership will equip SMEs with practical tools, training and access to services that support cross-border trade, e-commerce growth and sustainable business development

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, September 2, 2026/APO Group/ –DHL and Absa Group have officially signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to expand DHL’s GoTrade programme across Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), formalising a strategic partnership that paves the way for the rollout of the DHL GoTrade programme across key markets in SSA.
 




 

By combining DHL’s logistics expertise with Absa Group’s extensive banking, digital and financial capabilities, the partnership will equip SMEs with practical tools, training and access to services that support cross-border trade, e-commerce growth and sustainable business development.

Deputy Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition Zuko Godlimpi said the partnership will help SMMEs address the critical constraints to regional growth.

“This partnership brings together the finance, logistics, market knowledge and public support that SMMEs need to trade beyond our borders. By building the capacity of South African enterprises to enter African markets, we are not only growing individual businesses – we are strengthening intra-African trade, creating jobs and using the African market to power South Africa’s economic growth.”
the Deputy Minister said.

Every successful business starts with someone brave enough to dream bigger

The agreement was signed by Hennie Heymans, CEO of DHL Express Sub-Saharan Africa, and Faisal Mkhize, Managing Executive for Business Development, Business Banking Pan-Africa at Absa Group.

“Every successful business starts with someone brave enough to dream bigger. Across Africa, there are thousands of entrepreneurs with incredible ideas, determination and ambition, but many still face stumbling blocks when it comes to trading globally.” said Hennie Heymans.

“By partnering with Absa Group, we are creating a powerful ecosystem that combines logistics excellence with financial expertise, ensuring that SMEs across the continent to grow sustainably. To be clear, this is really about helping African SMEs turn big ambitions into real opportunities. Whether it’s understanding how to export for the first time, finding the right financial support, reaching new customers online, or expanding into international markets,” he added.

Approximately 1,600 SMEs have been trained in Uganda, one of the earliest markets to implement the programme, with more entrepreneurs also benefitting from Kenya, Botswana and Zambia. Mozambique and Tanzania are next in line for rollout.

“SMEs are at the heart of Africa’s economic future. They create jobs and strengthen communities.  Our partnership with DHL Express is about giving business owners practical support, and access to trade solutions that can help them move beyond their local markets and realise their growth ambitions,” said Absa Group’s Mkhize.

As the SME sector across SSA continues to play a critical role in driving economic growth, innovation and job creation, the partnership between DHL and Absa Group is a commitment to helping entrepreneurs overcome barriers to trade and unlock new opportunities beyond their borders. Together, the two organisations aim to equip more businesses with the knowledge, networks and support they need to grow sustainably, compete globally and contribute to Africa’s economic growth.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of DHL Express SSA.

 

 




 

Continue Reading

Trending