Liquid Intelligence Technologies – Building the Digital Economy BFM 91

LIQUID INTELLIGENT TECHNOLOGIES

BUILDING THE DIGITAL ECONOMY

LIQUID INTELLIGENT TECHNOLOGIES

Michel Hebert, CEO of Liquid Intelligent Technologies in DRC.

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LIQUID INTELLIGENT TECHNOLOGIES

WE LEARN HOW LIQUID INTELLIGENT TECHNOLOGIES IS LAYING THE GROUNDWORK FOR AFRICA’S DIGITAL ECONOMY.

BUILDING THE DIGITAL ECONOMY PROJECT MANAGED BY: JOHN HOLLIMAN

Liquid Intelligent Technologies is a UK based company working exclusively in Africa across 15 countries. The company has 100,000 kilometres of fibre either built or under management, including the whole range from overline fibre optics to subsea cable systems.

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hrough a sister company, Liquid Intelligent Technologies also runs six large data centres across South Africa, Rwanda, and Kenya, as well as one under construction in Nigeria. Large corporate customers use those data centres for services such as cloud computing, virtual servers, and other digital services.

These two offerings combine to allow Liquid Intelligent Technologies to offer the full range of digital infrastructure.

“Using our fibre networks we link our data centres together, but our core offering is wholesale internet to large telecom operating companies,” says

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Michel Hebert, CEO of Liquid Intelligent Technologies in DRC. “When Vodacom wants to offer internet for mobile phones, our network is the one that provides the internet to Vodacom. Orange is another customer, as is MT. Most mobile network operators in Africa are our customers.”

The company also offers fibre as a retail service. In six of its markets, Liquid Intelligent Technologies offers fibre directly to homes and businesses, providing an endto-end internet experience.

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With passion and expertise, we drive your projects.

We put fervour in our work to make it happen!

• Renewable energy solutions & supply of generators • Civil engineering • Machine tools • Technical, technological & strategic advice • New communication & information technologies Geek was created in 2016, born of a passion for engineering and the realization of various technical and technological projects. Our expertise and skills are based on a qualified, experienced and motivated workforce.

Whatever the projects, Geek ensures to lead, identify all the requirements and provide customized solutions to meet their expectations.

• Address: Appartement 205, Immeuble Ex SABENA N° 33, Boulevard du 30 juin, Gombe - Kinshasa, RDC • Email: info@geek.cd • Phone : +243 810 322 298 • www.geek.cd

Our Mission We strive for perfection to achieve excellence and stand out in our fields of activity by operating to international standards.

Our Values Our Company is very committed to the values that makes it its DNA, history & culture:

• Customer Satisfaction • Quality Management • Continuous Improvement • Creativity • Team Spirit Our Vision Become a leader in our fields of activity by offering quality service, improved company management & to be a valued partner for your business.

LIQUID INTELLIGENT TECHNOLOGIES

CONNECTING THE DRC

One of Liquid Intelligent Technologies’ most recent ventures has been an ambitious fibre-laying project across the Democratic Republic of Congo.

To achieve this, the company has allied with Facebook.

“The deal is that we build and own the fibre and Facebook provides the seed capital,” Hebert tells us. “It will be a 1,300-kilometre project, a fibre highway from the south of the country to the northeast through Kananga and Goma, passing four major cities on the way. We will be providing each of these cities with metro fibre that allows us to connect mobile operators and fibre to the home.”

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The DRC is a developing country and this project brings a number of environmental challenges with it.

“The environment itself can be a challenge,” Herbert admits. “We’re going through jungles where there’s very little road or infrastructure.

Sometimes we have to build roads or bridges to cross the fibre.”

Sometimes these challenges can be even more dramatic.

“Recently in Goma, there was an active volcano!” Hebert recalls.

“Lava was going down the city of Goma, so we had to stop work and get our people out.”

There are also infrastructural issues. All that fibre needs power, and Liquid Intelligent Technologies cannot rely on the national grid.

“WE’RE GOING THROUGH JUNGLES WHERE THERE’S VERY LITTLE ROAD OR INFRASTRUCTURE. SOMETIMES WE HAVE TO BUILD ROADS OR BRIDGES TO CROSS THE FIBRE.” BUSINESSFOCUSMAGAZINE.COM

LIQUID INTELLIGENT TECHNOLOGIES

“We have to add additional systems ourselves to make sure we can power up this fibre,” Hebert explains. “We have to put these systems down and maintain them, cleaning the solar panels and repairing any issues.

Finding the power we need and managing the maintenance is the most difficult part of this project.”

A DIGITAL FUTURE

Fortunately, Liquid Intelligent Technologies has access to the tools and human resources necessary to overcome these challenges.

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Success in today’s highly competitive business climate demands cutting edge communications resources. www.mittegypt.com

WE CONNECT, WE PROTECT

HORUS-PTS Horus-PTS was established in 2018, The company was founded by Eng. Mohamed Osama, a telecom engineer who has great experience in telecom networks especially in Africa. The company exists in 10 African countries; Kenya, Uganda, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Zambia, Rwanda, Burundi, Congo DRC and Egypt. HorusPTS team has a massive experience in the telecom industry sector all over Africa. Mr. Sherif Mansour is the Chairman of Horus-PTS. Horus-PTS is powered by MITT MITT MITT is an Egyptian shareholder’s company established in 1999. MITT is classified as “First Class” in the Egyptian Federation for construction and building contractors. A TÜV Rheinland certified company (ISO 9001:2015). It is one of the market’s leaders and considered as one of the most reputed companies in passive infrastructure and telecom networks in Egypt. MITT is a mega project company which has executed mega project in Sudan, and other projects in Senegal, Congo DRC. Mr. Sherif Mansour is the Chief executive officer and chairman of MITT.

A: 7D, Tibba Buildings, Zahraa El Maadi, Cairo, Egypt // E: info@mittegypt.com // T: +202 25168866

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“IT WILL BE A 1,300-KILOMETRE PROJECT, A FIBRE HIGHWAY FROM THE SOUTH OF THE COUNTRY TO THE NORTHEAST THROUGH KANANGA AND GOMA, PASSING FOUR MAJOR CITIES ON THE WAY.” 10 | COMMUNICATION & TECHNOLOGY

“We have teams of people at key cities along the route with four-wheel drives and the tools we need,” Hebert says. “It takes longer to do maintenance here than it normally would in a more developed location. A typical problem with the fibre in a developed country takes one or two hours to fix, but in DRC it can take one or two days.”

This is why Liquid Intelligen Technologies’ deployment strategy involves significant amounts of redundancy.

“That’s why we build different routes, so there’s always back up,” Hebert says. “You can’t have a single point of fibre when Vodacom, for instance, is depending on you. We build redundancy and alternative routing into all our solutions.”

Sourcing the people who can do that, both internationally and locally, is a key part of any project as big as this. Fortunately, Liquid Intelligent Technologies has both a well-qualified in-house team and is experienced at recruiting new talent.

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LIQUID INTELLIGENT TECHNOLOGIES

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www.prodimpex.com

| LIVE THE EXPERIENCE |

THE FUN SIDE OF WORK Founded in 1980, PRODIMPEX is a specialist in the distribution of technical equipment, in the fields of transport and engineering.

PRODIMPEX has exclusive distribution agreements with some of the world’s largest companies, including ISUZU, IVECO, ONIS VISA and YAMAHA MOTORS. PRODIMPEX has exclusive state-of-the-art showrooms & after-sales service, adhering to strict manufacturer standards. These include repairs with well-equipped professional people & machines at the service centres, supported by sale of original spare parts for all of its products. With a total of 6 offices across the country’s vast geography we’re strategically covered for an end-to-end solutions.

Prodimpex S.A. Croisement Av. Tangu et OUA No 1, Q/Basoko, C/Ngaliema, Kinshasa, DRC, BP- 1859 Kin 1 Tel: +243 817 11 5979 / +243 812 909 910 Email: sales1@prodimpex.com marketing2@prodimpex.com

PRODIMPEX SA Looking for Transport Solutions to achieve your time lines? Partner with Prodimpex, we have the best bouquet of products to assure your success.

LEGEND Prodimpex SA is a part of the Groupe Rawji (www.grouperawji.com), one of the largest conglomerates in the DRC been in existence for more than a century.

Rawji Group covers various business domains: Banking, FMCG, Equipments Supply, Manufacturing Industry for Soap & Cement, Electricals’s cabling supply & manufacturing, Solar Turnkey solutions, Railway Transport Services, Construction, Assurance & Intercountry water way transport services.

MANAGEMENT Led by a young and visionary CEO, Mr. ADNAN RAWJI fellow bloodline of the family he has been managing the business activities since 2012 & has been very active by working closely with the team members, bringing innovative ideas onboard & leading the professional team with examples to achieve success & keep growing year on year.

country’s geography & different provincial needs, to satisfy the transport challenges within where roads, water ways, power, after sales services and spares are a distant dream but realisable with our presence contributing to the better livelihood of the population in many ways.

SOLUTIONS PARTNER We have been known in the business as an effective Solutions Provider Partners to numerous PVT & GOVT projects as our Philosophy is to understand the client needs & prepare the solution offering package in an economic manner supporting them to Achieve their goals and become our recurring Referential Partners for a long term.

Reason we have a satisfied client base who believe in us in many ways and return to us for their Best Investment returns.

LIQUID TELECOM has recently started operations in the country and we have begun an effective relationship with them enhancing their Transport needs by Supplying our Strong, Reliable & Economic ISUZU pickups for Kinshasa & Lubumbashi operations.

HERITAGE It was created in the year 1980 for the services of the group in terms of equipments which then grew to serve external clients in a full-fledged enterprise representing global brands.

AIRTEL RDC, ORANGE RDC, BRALIMA, BRACONGO, UNITED SA, ANGEL COSMETICS, OK PLAST are some of the many Blue Chip level clients whom we are servicing with a high level of satisfaction and recurring business with us.

With a State of the Art HQ based in Kinshasa, extending its presence across the country with 5 branches in critical locations covering a challenging geography.

CLOSING REMARKS To summarize our DRC operations are very promising in terms of our supplied products backed up with our assured relationship management and satisfactory services rendered to our Valued clients who are our backbone of Success and Growth.

Over the years we have evolved strongly as Official country Distributor(s) for world renowned Brands viz YAMAHA, ISUZU, IVECO, ONIS VISA, FPT as many as 13 Brands.

COUNTRY PLAYER Different brands roped in as partnerships are a result of detailed understanding of the

www.prodimpex.com

www.newforests.net We are a plantation forestry company based in the Great Lakes region of East and Central Africa. We practice responsible forest management which plays a vital role in securing our collective future by lifting millions out of poverty, creating jobs and building resilient economies and societies that can withstand climate change, pandemics like COVID-19, and other global challenges.

By promoting procurement and consumption of Forest Stewardship Council™ (FSC™) (FSC™ C124444, FSC™ C001823, FSC™ C162788) certified quality (treated, kiln dried) timber and biomass. Our pole treatment plant is also accredited to ISO® (ISO 9001:2015 QMS certified), ISO 14001:2015 EMS certified) and is the holder of the local Bureau of Standards (UNBS) quality mark. We promote sustainability in our business model. The New Forests Company (NFC) supports economic empowerment and the building of agency of local communities through the Forests for Prosperity approach.

The New Forests Company is therefore delighted to be partnering with Liquid Intelligent Technologies (DRC) in expanding the EAC common market and serving the people of DR Congo through expansion of grid electricity and building a green economy.

By buying FSC™-certified products you help take care of the world’s forests (www.fsc.org).

Look for our FSC-certified products.

FSC™ C124444, FSC™ C001823, FSC™ C162788

P. O. Box 71435, Kampala ■ Plot 1, Kololo Hill Drive, Block B, 5th Floor, Office 5A, Kampala, Uganda T: +256 414 581 249 ■ E: roland.nkwitsana@newforests.net

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LIQUID INTELLIGENT TECHNOLOGIES

“THAT’S WHY WE BUILD DIFFERENT ROUTES, SO THERE’S ALWAYS BACK UP. YOU CAN’T HAVE A SINGLE POINT OF FIBRE WHEN VODACOM, FOR INSTANCE, IS DEPENDING ON YOU. WE BUILD REDUNDANCY AND ALTERNATIVE ROUTING INTO ALL OUR SOLUTIONS.”

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“Liquid is a company that’s been building for around 15 years, so within the company, we have some very qualified people,” Hebert tells us. “When we start a project we arrive with a small team of experts, then hire the best technical graduates we can. We find good qualified, educated people, and then we train them in our areas of expertise.”

At the moment Liquid Intelligent Technologies has only had a small team of expats in the DRC, overseeing 500 Congolese that have been trained to carry out the work.

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LIQUID INTELLIGENT TECHNOLOGIES

“We also have people from the DRC helping to solve local challenges,” Hebert points out.

“Our local operating centres are linked to our global operating centres to provide assistance, fix problems, and monitor everything with us.”

While it has achieved a great deal already, Hebert is clear that Liquid Intelligent Technologies’ work in the DRC is still only just beginning.

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“In the future, we will have thousands of kilometres more fibre in the DRC. We will be building data centres here as well that will be networked to our other Africa data centres.

We’re creating one big cloud infrastructure,” he explains.

“We’re building these services even today.”

This is part of a broader vision, not just for the DRC, but for Africa as a whole.

“WE ALSO HAVE PEOPLE FROM THE DRC HELPING TO SOLVE LOCAL CHALLENGES. OUR LOCAL OPERATING CENTRES ARE LINKED TO OUR GLOBAL OPERATING CENTRES TO PROVIDE ASSISTANCE, FIX PROBLEMS, AND MONITOR EVERYTHING WITH US.” BUSINESSFOCUSMAGAZINE.COM

LIQUID INTELLIGENT TECHNOLOGIES

“Africa, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, is transforming into a digital economy,” Hebert notes. “More things are being done online, we are seeing increases in mobile payments, financial services, and the online marketplace.

Liquid Intelligence Technology is leading the way in building the infrastructure for these services,

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with high-level software running these services on our data centres. We are providing the essential infrastructure and power behind a digital economy. We provide services to private banks, build cloud infrastructure, run applications so they can run them for their own customers, and this is all wrapped up in cybersecurity,

protecting all of our customers’ private information. Liquid’s job is to provide all the tools and infrastructure for governments and private institutions to build the digital economy, as well as access to individual consumers to that infrastructure.”

“LIQUID’S JOB IS TO PROVIDE ALL THE TOOLS AND INFRASTRUCTURE FOR GOVERNMENTS AND PRIVATE INSTITUTIONS TO BUILD THE DIGITAL ECONOMY, AS WELL AS ACCESS TO INDIVIDUAL CONSUMERS TO THAT INFRASTRUCTURE.”

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