April

when

<a target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funke_Opeke" rel="noreferrer noopener">Funke Opeke</a> has stepped down from her role as <a target="_blank" href="http://www.mainone.net" rel="noreferrer noopener">MainOne’s</a> Managing Director for West Africa. This comes weeks after the internet provider company concluded its post-acquisition merger with <a target="_blank" href="http://www.equinix.com" rel="noreferrer noopener">Equinix</a>. Following her resignation, Opeke will become the strategic adviser for the West Africa region. 
Funke Opeke was appointed MainOne’s Managing Director for West Africa after Equinix’s $320 million acquisition of MainOne in April 2022. She had been the company’s CEO for over a decade and had led its growth since 2010 when it landed the first private submarine cable on the West Coast of Africa. 
According to a report, Opeke, who founded MainOne in 2008, will be replaced by Wole Abu. Before this appointment, Abu was the CEO of Liquid Intelligent Technologies Nigeria business and the Africa Data Centre. He also served as Pan African Towers’ CEO and Vice President of Sales at Airtel Nigeria. Abu will build on the company’s focus on sustaining internet service provision and data centre business. 
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Also, Equinix plans to launch three major data centre projects and extend its fibre capacity. The company operated two data centres in Lagos that are now fully under its control. 
Meanwhile, Abu’s appointment as Managing Director for Equinix’s West African business follows the opening of Equinix’s newest data centre in Johannesburg, South Africa. Abu will be in charge of overseeing the Equinix business in West Africa and work closely with both local businesses and multinational companies.&nbsp; 
The company also restated its focus to continue building on the strong foundations for connectivity and growth in the region. This is to bring the opportunity and services of Equinix to the West African region. 
Reacting to the appointment, Wole Abu expressed his commitment to transforming the global economy through Equinix. 
“I’m excited to be joining Equinix, as we share a common vision for expanding digital infrastructure across Africa,” he said. 
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 Wole Abu
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“This mission is crucial for bringing life-enhancing services to the region and bridging the digital divide. By empowering both enterprises and individuals, we’re enabling broader participation in the global digital economy. I’m eager to contribute to this transformative work and help create a more connected, accessible digital landscape throughout Africa,” Abu added.&nbsp; 
<h4 id="equinixs-320-million-acquisition-of-mainone" class="wp-block-heading">Equinix’s $320 million acquisition of MainOne&nbsp;</h4> 
The leadership change marks a new beginning for MainOne, Nigeria’s most prominent internet connectivity provider with a roll call of major banks and telecoms as clients. In April 2022, the acquisition of MainOne by Equinix began. Equinix is known as the world’s largest global data centre and colocation provider, in one of the largest exits in Africa’s tech ecosystem.&nbsp; 
According to a release by the American connectivity company, the deal which has an enterprise value of $320 million started in the first quarter of 2022. The acquisition process was subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions including the requisite regulatory approvals. 
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 <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="474" height="266" src="https://technext24.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/OIP-5.jpg" alt="Equinix acquisition of MainOne
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MainOne, founded in 2010 by Nigerian, Funke Opeke, <a href="https://technext.ng/2019/04/30/mainone-expand-services-africa-new-data-centre-abidjan-launched/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">has 1,200 kilometers of reliable terrestrial fibre networks across southern Nigeria</a>. It also owns and operates a subsea network from Nigeria to Portugal in Europe. The company has digital infrastructure assets including three operational data centres across West Africa. With these facilities, the company has enabled connectivity for the business community of Nigeria. 
In 2013, Main One began laying a 27-kilometer fibre optic cable to cover the Yaba area of Lagos, known as Nigeria’s Silicon Valley. That led to several startups choosing offices in Yaba, thus midwifing the Nigerian tech ecosystem. MainOne’s fibre investment was instrumental to the growth of startups like Andela, CcHUB, Paga, and Hotels. ng, and Flutterwave. 
It is against this backdrop that Equinix believes MainOne to be one of the most exciting technology businesses to emerge from Africa. According to Equinix’s management, buying up MainOne would mark the first step in its long-term strategy to become a leading African carrier-neutral digital infrastructure company.&nbsp; 
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The acquisition of MainOne represents a critical point of entry for Platform Equinix into the expansive and rapidly growing African market. MainOne’s leading interconnection position and experienced management team represent critical assets in our aspirations to be the leading neutral provider of digital infrastructure in Africa. 
He noted that the growth of data consumption in Africa is amongst the fastest in the world, and MainOne’s infrastructure, customer relationships, partner ecosystem, and operating capability will extend Equinix’s reach and bolster opportunities for customers in Africa and throughout the world. 
However, the integration, which took about two years because of workload migration, the process of moving applications, data, and IT processes from across environments was completed last month.&nbsp; 
As part of that integration, employees received new employment contracts. While those contracts saw employees receive a pay bump, it was not as significant as they expected. According to reports, the differences in expectations caused employees to delay signing the new contracts. 
<a target="_blank" href="https://technext24.com/2021/12/07/nigerias-mainone-to-be-acquired-by-americas-equinix-in-320-million-deal/" rel="noreferrer noopener">Also Read: Nigeria’s MainOne to be acquired by America’s Equinix in $320 million deal</a>.
The post <a href="https://technext24.com/2024/11/05/funke-opeke-resigns-as-mainone-md/">Funke Opeke resigns as MainOne MD following Equinix’s $320m acquisition</a> first appeared on <a href="https://technext24.com">Technext</a>.

Funke Opeke resigns as MainOne MD following Equinix’s $320m acquisition

Technext.ng

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