The Opportunity
CopperCloud positions Zambia as Africa's data sovereignty leader by defining national standards, stewarding open infrastructure, and piloting sovereign compute—capturing $301M in 5-year fiscal benefits while creating 4,000 jobs and eliminating dependency on foreign cloud providers.
$65-80M
Annual offshore cloud spend (status quo)
$1.04B
10-year cost of foreign dependency
$460M
Sovereign infrastructure alternative
What CopperCloud Does
Policy & Standards Authority
- Define national doctrine for sovereign infrastructure
- Author "Open-Ported" interoperability standards
- Steward Government Working Group (GWG) secretariat
- Produce Green Papers & regulatory frameworks
Research & Certification
- Comparative sovereignty models (EU, Rwanda, India)
- Economic analysis & TCO modeling
- Administer 3-tier "Sovereign-Ready" certification
- Pilot micro-DCs & validate standards
Open-Ported Value Stack Doctrine
Reject siloed build-outs. Provision Layer N for Layer N+1 from day one:
⚡ Energy
Interconnect telemetry, DC footprints, backhaul-ready
📡 Telecom
Dark fiber policy, IX peering, diverse paths
💻 Compute
Modular micro-DCs, residency controls, audit trails
🔐 Data
Classification, portability, CopperCloud certification
Mufulira Pilot: Proving Sovereign Infrastructure Works
Why Mufulira?
- Border location: DRC cross-border data flows
- Mining anchor tenant: Mopani + industrial loads
- Municipal buy-in: Mayor-led convening
- Infrastructure present: Grid + fiber accessibility
Use Cases: Smart-border (ZRA), mining telemetry, municipal e-gov, sovereign workloads
5-Year Impact
$301M
Total fiscal benefit
$250M
Import substitution
$52M
Annual GDP contribution
Operating Model & Independence
Revenue Streams (Diversified)
- Gov't Advisory: $250-400K/year (GWG, policy)
- DFI Grants: $500K-1M/year (standards, research)
- Certification: $850K-1.2M/year by Year 5
- Limited Consulting: Implementation oversight
Independence Safeguards
- No single source >40% of funding
- Third-party auditors (not CopperCloud staff)
- Annual transparency reports + public registry
- Sunset clause if mission institutionalized
🎯 The Ask: Partner with CopperCloud to Execute Phase 4
For Government:
• Formalize as independent standards authority
• Establish GWG via Cabinet Note
• Commit advisory retainer ($250-400K/year)
• Approve Mufulira pilot site
For Development Partners:
• Fund Green Paper & standards ($300-500K)
• Support capacity building ($200-400K)
• Technical assistance for regulatory framework
• Co-fund pilot infrastructure
Data Sovereignty = Economic Sovereignty
Zambia's digital infrastructure decisions made in 2025-2026 will shape its economy for decades
12-18 Month Success Metrics:
GWG Established
Green Paper Published
Sandbox Launched
Standards Adopted
1+ Micro-DC Online
2+ Datasets Localized
100+ Certified Professionals