Multinational payment authorization giant Visa officially launched its first data centre in South Africa on Wednesday. This new infrastructure forms a key part of Visa’s R1 billion commitment to investments across Africa.
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Located in Johannesburg, the data centre aims to enhance Visa’s services in South Africa and will serve as a foundational platform for the company’s broader expansion throughout the African continent. For security reasons, the exact location and size of the facility remain undisclosed.
“When we started in South Africa 30 years ago, we didn’t really think about building infrastructure here. But over time our business has grown tremendously, and the number of transactions continues to grow,” said Michael Berner, Visa’s Country Manager for Southern and Eastern Africa, at the launch event. “The data centre here is not just for South Africa; it is a platform for our growth on the African continent. We continue to see Africa as a growth engine and we are happy to announce our pledge to invest a R1-billion into the continent.”
Berner highlighted South Africa’s rapidly digitizing payments landscape, noting that over half of Visa’s transactions locally are now contactless. He emphasized Africa’s “significant importance” to the global economy, stating that a portion of the R1 billion investment will directly support job creation and empower entrepreneurs and small and medium-sized enterprises.
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Tim Masela, outgoing head of the national payments system at the Reserve Bank, welcomed the investment, stating that Visa’s local infrastructure will significantly bolster regional financial integration efforts among policymakers, financial institutions, and central banks. “We believe that this infrastructure will drive greater integration in the region and the continent,” Masela remarked.
Berner reiterated South Africa’s central role in technological innovation for Africa. The new data centre will enable Visa to deliver state-of-the-art technological solutions, including generative AI-enabled payments, to South African financial institutions and their customers. “With this data centre, we believe we will bring even more innovations and more modern and sophisticated products to South Africa and the broader Africa,” he concluded.
