Organisers Statement

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Overview

The Pan African DataCentres Exhibition & Conference (PADC) delivered over 1330 attendees.

The tone of the event was best summed up as quality.

The morning of Day 1 was slower than expected, this possibly due to the event being held on a Monday and Tuesday rather than a Tuesday and Wednesday, (as in previous years and again in 2026) however, the attendees built through the course of the day with quality attendees making up the visitor audience.

Day 2 was busy from the get go, and maintained a high level of attendance with exhibitors conducting demos and client conversations even after the show was officially closed. Exhibitors commented that PADC delivered a worthwhile and active audience of senior buyers and decision makers.

“It was another great exhibition for CODRA. Every year we meet around sixty new contacts at the Pan African Data Centres event. We’re looking forward to some great opportunities that could potentially arise between now and the start of next year… We look forward to returning to exhibit at 2026.” – Caroline Roy, Event Officer, CODRA

PADC once again worked with our Supporting Association/Organisations (Africa Data Centres Association, South African Artificial Intelligence Association, DC Byte, Uptime Institute, etc…) to identify and deliver relevant content addressing the various aspects involved in site selection, design, build and operations of Data Centres to make them relevant for purpose whilst being effective, efficient, safe and secure and resilient.

The conference streams featured over 75 individual Speakers, Panellists and Chairs and were well attended. The subject matter of individual presentations with papers addressing topics such as “The launch of the African Code of Conduct” and “AI and its implications to data centres” (both operationally and in their service offering), kept the average delegate numbers per session circa 35+ with some sessions achieving over 100 Delegates depending on the content delivered.

The importance of these sessions to the delivery of quality attendees should be recognised, as many had planned the timing and length of stay to allow them to hear particular talks/sessions.

“The Pan African Data Centres event continues to deliver. This year’s event proved to be just as valuable for creating person to person industry connections and gaining insight into data centre activities and opportunities across the region.” – Mark Acton, Independent Data Centre Consultant, Acton Consulting

The networking reception at the end of day 1, in the exhibition hall, which was open to visitors, speakers and exhibitors attracted around 130 people and was a success. With attendees stating that the opportunity to share a drink or two and discuss the day was welcomed.

The Gala Dinner was again a success with the after-dinner speaker, Steven Kitshoff, who was a Rugby International and Springbok Prop who played in both the winning Rugby World Cups for South Africa, provided good entertainment to go with the food and networking opportunities.

One of the things that seemed to please exhibitors was the focused nature and quality of the audience delivered. Many commented on the quality achieved and the lack of low-level representatives, students and time wasters, who attend other events, which meant exhibitors had the time to have meaningful conversations with the actual decision makers.