President Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema officially unveiled Gabon’s inaugural data center yesterday, a landmark facility situated within the Nkok Special Economic Zone. This pivotal infrastructure was brought to fruition by ST Digital Data Center Services. The inauguration ceremony also featured the signing of a crucial Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Digital Economy, Digitalization, and Innovation and ST Digital, designed to champion Gabonese startups.
This dual strategic move aims to significantly bolster local data hosting capabilities, enhance national cybersecurity defenses, and accelerate the country’s comprehensive digital transformation. Built to stringent international standards and holding Tier III certification, this state-of-the-art facility is set to elevate Gabon’s data storage capacity, provide robust support for cloud computing initiatives, and serve both government administrations and private enterprises. Ultimately, it reinforces the nation’s digital sovereignty. Through this initiative, the Head of State clearly demonstrates a firm commitment to guiding Gabon toward an assertive digital future.
The partnership guarantees privileged access to professional services for emerging businesses. Selected startups will benefit from a dedicated virtual machine, 120 GB of SSD storage, 8 GB of RAM, four virtual processors, a public IP address, an SSL certificate, comprehensive technical support, and advantageous preferential rates.
The Ministry will be responsible for identifying eligible beneficiaries, actively promoting local data hosting, and conducting vital awareness campaigns on cybersecurity best practices. Laïka Mba, the General Manager of ST Digital, emphasized the profound significance, stating, “Possessing a national data center in Gabon represents far more than a technological triumph; it is an act of sovereignty.” She further elaborated, “It is the sacred assurance that our state secrets, our national archives, our public services, and the personal data of our citizens will no longer rely on foreign infrastructures.”
ST Digital will play a crucial role in safeguarding data security and providing ongoing technical assistance. This collaborative public-private endeavor is poised to foster the development of innovative digital solutions conceived and hosted entirely within Gabon, thereby cultivating a more fertile environment for innovation, job creation, and investment across the nation.