The Chief Executive Officer of the United States International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) has applauded Africell Sierra Leone for the company’s continuous contributions towards the economic growth and social development of Sierra Leone.

Scott Nathan Wednesday 27th July, 2022 registered his institution’s high commendations whilst delivering a statement during his visit at ground breaking ceremony for the erection of Africell SL Data Centre, at Lumley in the west of Freetown.

He expressed his colleagues at DFC’s profound impressions with lots of admirations at what he described as the high level of significant capital investments being made by Africell SL in innovative, strategic resources and capacity developments.

DFC being Africell Group’ giant external financier, Nathan acknowledged Africell’s progress in Sierra Leone and elsewhere, which he reiterated must be counted as real “success stories” in DFC’s missions to create economic growth in developing markets by encouraging private sector investments.

He underscored the importance of telecommunications to West Africa’s economic growth, and encouraged service providers’ work towards bridging the much wide “digital divide” in Sierra Leone and in the regional as a whole.

Speaking in an interview with AfriRadio, Nathan clearly outlined DFC’s objectives, explaining in details why the institution is in firm partnership with Africell, is delivering benefits in Sierra Leone and beyond.

According to Scott Nathan, around the world, including in West Africa, telecommunications is vital for closing the “digital divide,” adding that having reliable access to the internet is key to economic growth in the twenty-first century. He described telecommunications as a critical piece of economic infrastructure, pointing out that to have a company like Africell, pushing it in Sierra Leone, whilst being socially responsible by playing important roles in the community.

He conveyed US Government’s development plans to align with economic growth and the DFC helps achieve the desired goal through initiatives in healthcare, climate-friendly energy solutions, digital technologies, and more.

“We are always looking forward to add our financial support to elements of the economy that boost economic growth,” he revealed, adding that economic growth leads to opportunity, employment and stability, all of which are in everyone’s interests.

He informed of how they want the economy to grow and for Sierra Leoneans to have more jobs and opportunities maintaining that they prioritize private sector partners because they believe that unleashing the private sector will attract even more private capital, which is the most sustainable model for growth.

Nathan said DFC focuses on opportunities where there is a financing gap: situations where their involvement can provide a unique boost to private sector companies, entrepreneurs and those advancing financial inclusion.

“We are pleased to be in Sierra Leone to support Africell and other projects, and we will continue to explore opportunities to support economic growth here,” he reassured, adding that Africell has an incredible team that is extremely innovative and with a plan.

“It is incredibly gratifying to see such a success story and I’m really pleased that the US Government and DFC can be a part of the story through our financing relationship,” he told AfriRadio.

For his part, the Managing Director, Africell Sierra Leone, Shadi Gerjawi, explained that the facility symbolizes Africell SL’s position at the forefront of telecommunications trends in Africa.

He said as part of Africell SL’s efforts in hosting third party infrastructure, and data centre, providing large storage capacity for disaster recovery, and redundancy for Government, Non-Governmental Organizations as well as for private entities, which require such services in the country, the company with support from the United States of America.

Symbolically turning the sod, marking commencement of construction of the first Manor River Union State-of-the-Art Data Centre in Freetown, MD Gerjawi informed all that Africell is currently strengthening its network coverage in the country through investment in new cell sites, especially in rural and hard-to-reach areas.

Gerjawi concluded by arguing that societies and economies are becoming increasingly smart, mobile, digital, and highlighted the importance of Data Centres in that context.