After 11 years at the helm, Teraco co-founder Lex van Wyk will step down from his role as company CEO, effective 1 January 2020.
In a statement, the company says Van Wyk will be succeeded by Jan Hnizdo, who has been an executive director of Teraco since 2011, having initially joined the company in the position of CFO, and as MD since early 2018.
Van Wyk, who has been instrumental in growing the business from its early stages as a start-up data centre in Cape Town to one of Africa’s largest data centres, will remain a shareholder in Teraco and will continue to serve on the board in the capacity of non-executive director.
“It has been an honour for me to help build such a phenomenal business, but after 11 years, I feel that the timing is right to step aside,” says Van Wyk.
Together with his Teraco team,Van Wyk has played a pivotal role to transform the South Africa telecommunications landscape, notes the company. As the first vendor-neutral data centre in Africa, Teraco launched Africa’s largest Internet exchange, NAPAfrica, in 2012.
Since launching, Teraco claims to have established itself as the largest provider of data centre co-location space in Africa, with more than 50MW of available critical power load, 20 000m2 of built out co-location space, and 16 000 interconnects between its ecosystem of carriers, content and cloud providers, outsourced service providers and key enterprise partners.
Regarding Hnizdo’s new role as CEO, Van Wyk adds: “This transition has been carefully planned over the last few years. The current management team is focused and stays in place with the same goals. Importantly, Jan has been an outstanding part of the leadership team and has played an integral role in Teraco’s success over the past nine years.
“Jan has a proven track record of delivering value to all stakeholders within the Teraco community and is the natural successor to implement Teraco’s strategy for the market opportunities that lie ahead.”
In July, Teraco announced a R1 billion investment in the expansion of the Teraco Isando Campus, which will occur in two phases. The company said the expansion was fuelled by the increased demand for additional data centre capacity, driven by increased cloud uptake and enterprise organisations wanting to access the Teraco platform.
Hnizdo explains: “We have built an amazing company with an outstanding team of management and employees, delivering world-class services to our clients. There is a massive opportunity ahead for Teraco, especially given the evolving role that we play within Africa’s digital ecosystem, and I am committed and excited to be leading Teraco along this growth path.”
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