Recognizing Africa’s potential for technological advancements and its ballooning appetite for innovation, Gitex, the annual showcase by global technology giants and startups in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), has announced that it will launch its first-ever edition in the continent.
Gitex Africa will debut in Marrakech, Morocco from May 31 to June 2, 2023, signaling a strategic move by international technology players to tap into the continent’s largely untapped market to spread their footprint.
Gitex Africa, which is also expected to host around 400 firms from the US, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, has been termed as a timely development by international technology firms with a presence in various African countries.
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Speaking on the sidelines of the ongoing Gitex Technology Week in Dubai, UAE, Pasha Ershow, senior vice-president, Asia-Pacific, Japan, Middle East and Africa Sales, and Global Channel at Acronis, welcomed the decision by Gitex to enter the African market, especially at a time when the continent is increasingly attracting significant investments from international companies.
“We welcome the announcement of Gitex finally going global and choosing Africa as its first destination outside of the UAE. Africa is an important market for us as cyber protection experts and Gitex Africa will provide us with a phenomenal opportunity to demonstrate to businesses in Africa, particularly the SMEs, the need to adopt a unified cyber protection strategy to protect their valuable data from loss through ransomware among other complex threats,” said.
Earlier this year, Acronis opened data centers in Johannesburg, South Africa and Lagos, Nigeria with plans underway to launch another one in Nairobi, Kenya in 2023. This, according to Pasha, comes on the back of heightened cyber threats that loom over the business landscape, and data accessibility, privacy, and compliance demands grow.
Defensive cyber strategy
Amid heightened cyber threats in the region, the Acronis Cyberthreats Report 2022, revealed that phishing remains the main attack vector with 94 percent of malware getting delivered by email. This tactic, says Pasha, still continues to grow rapidly: just this year, Acronis reported blocking 23 percent more phishing emails and 40 percent more malware emails in Q3, as compared with Q2 of the same year.
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The report also revealed that ransomware is still a leading threat to big companies and SMBs globally, with African-based businesses also becoming prime targets. High-value targets include the public sector, healthcare, manufacturing, and other critical organizations. In its recent report, Acronis also highlighted that ransomware continues to be one of the most profitable cyberattacks and predicts ransomware damages could exceed US$30 billion by 2023.
Strategic partnerships
Acronis also showcased its partnership with top-flight English Premier League team, where it hosted former Argentine international and Manchester City right-back Pablo Javier Zabaleta Girod – a move that demonstrates the need for sports teams to invest in cyber protection strategies that will help then identify and cope with complex threats, protect their data and safeguard their competitiveness in their respective leagues.