Industrial software company AVEVA has appointed Brock Ballard as its new Chief Revenue Officer, with the executive set to take up the role on 1 October 2026.Ballard joins AVEVA from Bentley Systems, where he served as Chief Revenue Officer from 2023, overseeing the company’s global accounts. He succeeds Sue Quense, who is stepping away from her full-time executive responsibilities to take up an advisory role with AVEVA. He brings more than two decades of experience in technology sales and executive leadership. He joined Bentley Systems in 2020 as Vice President and Regional Executive for the Americas before being appointed Chief Revenue Officer three years later.Before joining Bentley, Ballard held senior sales leadership positions at Dassault Systèmes’ DELMIA and Autodesk. At AVEVA, Ballard will join the company’s executive leadership team as the industrial software provider looks to continue expanding its business across sectors undergoing digital transformation.AVEVA CEO Caspar Herzberg said Ballard’s experience in technology sales and scaling technology businesses would be relevant to the company’s next phase.“I am delighted to welcome Brock to the Executive Leadership team at AVEVA, where we will benefit from his expertise, experience and commitment to building successful, high-growth tech companies,” Herzberg said.Ballard said he was joining the company at a time when industrial organisations are increasingly looking to technology to improve operations and resource management.“Having long admired AVEVA’s vision to drive innovation in the industries that deliver the essentials of life, I am delighted to be joining the executive leadership team,” Ballard said.Quense has led AVEVA’s revenue operations for the past five years and will remain involved with the company as an advisor. She will work with Ballard during the leadership transition and continue to advise the executive team.“In Brock, we have found someone who embodies the AVEVA values and shares our focus on driving innovation for our customers and enabling industries to thrive in our rapidly-evolving world,” Quense said.Ballard holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in communication and information sciences from the University of Alabama.His appointment comes as industrial software companies increasingly compete to provide digital tools for manufacturers, energy companies and other asset-intensive industries seeking to modernise operations and integrate technologies such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing and industrial data analytics.
Read briefing Google has expanded access to its AI-powered learning tools for higher education students across Africa, offering eligible university and college students in 27 countries a free one-year subscription to Google AI Plus.The offer, announced on 25 August 2026, gives eligible students access to Google’s Gemini AI tools, including Gemini Omni, higher usage limits and 400GB of cloud storage shared across Google Drive, Gmail and Google Photos. Students in Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and 24 other African countries will be able to access the offer, subject to verification of their student status.The move comes as universities and colleges across the continent increasingly explore how generative AI can be incorporated into teaching, research and academic work. Students are already using AI tools for tasks ranging from research and revision to understanding complex subjects and preparing coursework, although concerns around accuracy, academic integrity and responsible use remain. Google said its latest student offering is intended to provide tools that support the learning process rather than simply generate answers.Among the features available to students is a dedicated Student Hub within Gemini, where users can organise their studies, create practice quizzes and access different learning tools. Another feature, Study Notebooks, allows students to upload materials such as lecture notes, syllabi and reading materials. Gemini can then use those materials to help break down topics, identify areas where a student may need further study and generate lessons and quizzes.The platform also includes interactive visualisation capabilities that can generate 3D models, simulations, tables and other visual elements to help explain complex concepts. Students can additionally use Gemini Live and Deep Research to discuss research topics conversationally and generate multi-step research reports. Other learning features allow users to practise concepts and work through visual problems and diagrams.Alex Okosi, Managing Director for Google in Africa, said the initiative is aimed at expanding access to AI tools as the technology becomes increasingly relevant to education and employment.“Higher education requires students to research deeply, solve complex problems and continuously build new skills,” Okosi said. “As AI becomes an increasingly important tool for learning and work, we want to enable more students across Africa to access the resources they need to explore ideas, build knowledge and prepare for the future.”The expansion follows Google’s student AI offer introduced last year. Students who previously claimed the offer can renew their access for another 12 months, provided they complete the required student verification.Access to the programme is subject to eligibility requirements, with students required to verify their status through SheerID. The offer is available from 25 August 2026 and covers higher education students in Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Mali, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.The expansion comes as African universities face the dual challenge of increasing access to digital learning tools while developing policies around the responsible use of generative AI. Beyond access to the technology itself, institutions are increasingly having to consider how AI should be incorporated into academic research, assessment and teaching without undermining critical thinking or academic integrity.Google’s latest initiative therefore puts AI tools directly into the hands of a wider student population, while leaving universities and students to determine how the technology is incorporated into their academic work.
Read briefing Power and cooling infrastructure for artificial intelligence workloads will be among the topics on the agenda at International Telecoms Week (ITW) Africa 2026, where Vertiv will exhibit its data centre infrastructure technologies.The event, scheduled for 8 September 2026, comes as data centre operators and telecommunications companies across Africa face growing demand for infrastructure capable of supporting increasingly compute-intensive workloads.Vertiv will use its presence at the event to showcase technologies covering high-density power, liquid cooling, heat rejection and infrastructure management for AI applications. The company will also demonstrate its technologies through virtual and augmented reality experiences at Stand 404.The growing adoption of AI is putting additional pressure on data centre infrastructure. AI workloads can require significantly greater computing power and generate more heat than many traditional enterprise applications, increasing the demands placed on power distribution and cooling systems.These challenges are particularly relevant to Africa, where data centre operators are expanding capacity to support cloud services, digital platforms and emerging AI applications while also dealing with constraints around electricity availability, infrastructure costs and efficiency.Wojtek Piorko, Managing Director for Africa at Vertiv, is scheduled to participate in a panel discussion at ITW Africa titled “Designing Efficient and Sustainable Data Centres.” The session will take place on 8 September from 15:50 to 16:30.The discussion is expected to examine how data centre operators can balance rising computing requirements with the need to improve energy efficiency and sustainability.At its exhibition stand, Vertiv will demonstrate its infrastructure technologies using the Vertiv XR mobile application and virtual showroom, alongside virtual reality experiences focused on power and thermal management for AI environments.The company’s participation comes as investment in African data centre capacity continues to expand, driven by cloud adoption, digital services and the emergence of AI workloads. As operators increase computing density, infrastructure design is increasingly becoming a key consideration in determining how quickly new capacity can be deployed and how efficiently it can operate.For African technology leaders, the shift towards higher-density computing is also raising questions around the availability and cost of electricity, cooling requirements, data centre sustainability and the ability of existing facilities to accommodate AI infrastructure without major upgrades.
Read briefing The World Bank Group has imposed a minimum five-year debarment on Webmasters Kenya Limited and its founder and CEO, James Ayugi, citing fraudulent and obstructive practices during an international procurement process.The decision, contained in Sanctions Board Decision No. 147 (Sanctions Case No. 790), places renewed scrutiny on the Kenyan technology company, which has been associated with the development of eCitizen, Kenya’s central digital government services platform.According to findings published by the World Bank’s Integrity Vice Presidency (INT), the misconduct occurred during procurement processes for development projects in Somalia.Webmasters Kenya submitted bids to develop a Single Business Registration System for Somalia’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry under two World Bank-financed programmes: the Somali Core Economic Institutions and Opportunities Project (SCORE) and the Somalia Capacity Advancement, Livelihoods and Entrepreneurship through Digital Uplift Project (SCALED-UP).The World Bank found that Webmasters Kenya included the CVs of two proposed key experts in its technical bids, indicating that the professionals were committed to and available for the contracts.However, when the World Bank contacted the individuals, both denied authorising the use of their CVs or consenting to being listed as key experts.The Sanctions Board found that the misrepresentation was intended to improperly secure a financial benefit of $98,000, which had been allocated for expert remuneration.The World Bank also found that Webmasters Kenya obstructed a subsequent investigation.Following concerns raised during the procurement process, the bank issued an audit letter in November 2022 requesting accounting records, subcontractor agreements, invoices and corporate financial information.Despite receiving extensions and 10 written reminders, according to the findings, Webmasters Kenya did not provide the requested records. The company instead submitted broader project deliverables and high-level timelines.The Sanctions Board concluded that the company had materially impeded the World Bank’s inspection and audit rights.Responding to the debarment, Ayugi described the matter as an “administrative lapse” and a “compliance issue”, while presenting it as a learning experience for local technology companies.He also pointed to the company’s work in Somalia, saying the system it deployed had enabled local businesses to register in less than three days.The World Bank’s debarment, however, remains in effect for a minimum of five years, subject to the company’s fulfilment of specified conditions for release from sanction.The decision is likely to draw increased scrutiny to Webmasters Kenya’s public-sector contracts, particularly given the company’s association with eCitizen, a critical component of Kenya’s digital government infrastructure.Webmasters Kenya bills the national government between $773,000 and $1.55 million (KSh100 million to KSh200 million) every month to run and support the eCitizen gateway. The payments come amid concerns over systemic vulnerabilities within the platform, with a recent report by Kenya’s Auditor-General raising questions over its financial controls.The audit found that $2.7 million (KSh349 million) was overcharged to citizens through unapproved convenience fees, while $982,000 (KSh127 million) in government revenue was allegedly diverted from the official Paybill number 222222 to unverified private bank accounts.
Read briefing 