Okra joins local cloud providers providing affordable alternatives to AWS and Azure

Okra, an open-banking startup in Nigeria, has launched Nebula, a cloud infrastructure product. It joins a growing list of homegrown cloud providers like Nobus and Layer3 that market themselves as affordable alternatives to global cloud giants Azure and AWS.

“For too long, Africa has leaned on imported solutions, paying premiums for software and services,” wrote Fara Ashiru, the company CEO, on LinkedIn, mentioning the company’s ability to receive naira payments.

Like its local competitors, Nobus, Galaxy, and Layer3, Nebula will allow customers to pay cloud costs in local currency, a crucial selling point when companies are reducing USD exposure. Currency devaluation in Nigeria and increasingly tough macroeconomic conditions are driving technological changes from Nigeria’s biggest companies.

In July, TechCabal reported that five local cloud companies were in talks with state and federal government institutions to become their cloud providers of choice. Those companies hoped to argue that the 2019 National Cloud Computing Policy mandates government agencies to use local cloud service providers. Some of those companies considered forming a consortium.

For Okra, joining the cloud business will expand revenue streams, according to a TechCabal report from July when the service was still under development. Starting out as an open banking business, Okra has discontinued at least three of its original products, suggesting a softness in demand.

While the financials of the open banking companies remain unknown, at least one investor questioned the market size.

The push for patronage for homegrown cloud providers comes as cloud costs have more than doubled in the past year, thanks to the naira devaluation. Most Nigerian companies host their data on AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud, and the costs are charged in dollars. Local providers aren’t just positioning themselves as cheaper alternatives, but also argue that patronising them will reduce the country’s forex burdens.

With this launch, the startup joins a list of local cloud service providers—Nobus and Layer3—that have continued to grow as the depreciation of the naira against the dollar drives founders away from international service providers like AWS and Azure.