CEO of Liquid Intelligent Technologies DRC since June 1, 2022, Eric Waku is among the African pioneers who have transformed the African continent through the design, financing and implementation of telecommunications projects. He has played a major role since the late 1990s in some 20 countries in Africa, including the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Can you briefly introduce yourself?
I am the former Vice President, Business Development Africa and Managing Director of Nokia DRC (formerly Alcatel-Lucent). I was also Vice President Sales EMEA at Smartmatic, then Senior Advisor at Deloitte in charge of Francophone Africa, before joining Helios Towers DRC where I was Managing Director. I have an MBA from ESCP Business School and McCombs School of Business.
I am an Afro-optimist, globe-trotting, obsessed with the emergence of Africa and the DRC. All this can be achieved through the realization of large infrastructure projects in telecoms, digital, payment platforms, and renewable energies, in particular, photovoltaics. I have worked in France, the UK, the Netherlands, the US, China, and some 40 African countries, including South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Mozambique and Angola.
2) Liquid Intelligent Technologies is known for being the leader in network infrastructure in Africa. How are you doing in the DRC?
First of all, Liquid Intelligent Technologies operates in two categories of activities:
On the one hand, infrastructure, namely, broadband fiber, digital networks and renewable energy. We have over 100,000 km installed in Africa, state-of-the-art data centers in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Nairobi, Harare, Lome and Kigali, with a total of 6,800 square meters of rack space.
On the other hand, Digital Services, consisting of Cloud and Cybersecurity, Digital Platforms as well as Fintech platforms. In addition to this, we provide the main digital services based on the Cloud, such as Microsoft Office 365, Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Service AWS and other partners
In the DRC, we have deployed more than 4,000 km of fiber optic cable linking several major cities in the country, as well as metropolitan networks in Kinshasa, Kananga, Mbuji-Mayi, Lubumbashi, Kolwezi, Goma and Bukavu.
In addition, since 2021, we have developed a FTTH network, i.e. fiber to the home, in several communes in the city of Kinshasa. In this way, we are democratizing access to very high-speed Internet.
3) What are the next steps in your development?
Our ambition is to continue the expansion of our network throughout the country, to contribute to the opening up of certain provinces, to better serve our customers in the 3 market segments (Retail, Enterprise and Wholesale). There is a tremendous economic boom in the mining sector which plays a major role in the national growth. We want to accompany it and participate in the reduction of the deficit in the supply of electricity which is holding back the socio-economic development of the DRC. The goal is to realize the vision of Mr. Strive Masiyiwa, founder and executive chairman of Liquid Intelligent Technologies, which is to digitalize the continent and ensure that no African is left behind.
EXERGUES
Liquid Intelligent Technologies has deployed 4,000 km of fiber optic cable that connects several major cities in the country.
In addition, we have developed since 2021, the fiber to the final subscriber. Thus we democratize access to high-speed Internet.
