WSO2 has opened its first office in Africa, choosing Johannesburg, South Africa as the base for its next stage of growth on the continent.
The company, which builds software for enterprise digital infrastructure, says the move reflects how central Africa has become to its business as governments, banks, telecom providers, and retailers work to modernize old systems and get ready for AI.
The Johannesburg office is just the start. WSO2 plans to expand into more African markets over the coming years, moving into East, West, and North Africa. The company says it wants to grow steadily and lean on strong local partnerships rather than rush the expansion.
The announcement comes ahead of WSO2Con Africa, the company’s flagship technology conference, which will be held in Nairobi, Kenya from September 22 to 24.
It will be the first time the conference has taken place on the continent. Business and tech leaders attending will discuss topics like modernization, integration, digital sovereignty, and the rise of agentic AI.
Dinal Gooneratne, WSO2’s Vice President and General Manager for Africa, explained why the company is investing now.
“Africa isn’t a peripheral market for WSO2. It’s one of the fastest-growing parts of our business, and this office launch reflects our long-term commitment to the region,” he said.
“Organizations across the continent are moving from experimentation to execution. Establishing a permanent presence in Johannesburg allows us to work more closely with customers and partners as they modernize critical systems and adopt AI at scale.”
The numbers back up that growth story. Africa has been one of WSO2’s fastest-growing regions over the past two years, with revenue climbing roughly 30% year over year.
The company’s customer base on the continent has grown from about 40 organizations to more than 65, and it now operates in 25 African countries, including newer markets like Benin, Egypt, and Côte d’Ivoire.
A lot of that growth has come from the public sector. Government bodies using WSO2’s technology include Uganda’s National Information Technology Authority, Egypt’s Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, the Government of Malawi, the Kenya Revenue Authority, the Uganda Revenue Authority, and Lesotho Revenue Services.
These organizations rely on WSO2 to run secure, connected digital services for citizens and businesses.
WSO2 points to three trends driving its growth in Africa: rising demand for digital-first services, more investment in fixing outdated systems, and growing interest in AI projects that need secure and well-governed infrastructure to run on.
The company’s platform is built on open source, which lets organizations run it in the cloud, on their own servers, or a mix of both, while keeping control of their own data.
WSO2 says this fits with a larger push across the region toward digital sovereignty and open standards, including ideas laid out in Kenya’s recently unveiled draft AI policy.
Local partners have also played a role in the company’s expansion, and WSO2 says it plans to keep investing in those relationships to offer more localized support across the continent.
Steven Grundlingh, Business Development Executive at DeARX, said the move sends a clear signal.
“WSO2’s decision to establish a permanent presence in Johannesburg sends a strong signal to the market. We’ve seen firsthand how its open-source, API-first approach enables organizations to modernize and digitally transform into and within the new interconnected business ecosystems. Having WSO2 on the ground will accelerate collaboration and deliver even greater value for our shared customers,” he said.
Shailendra Yadav, CEO at Sybyl Kenya, echoed that sentiment.
“As governments and financial institutions across Africa increasingly prioritize data sovereignty and open standards, WSO2 is well positioned to support those ambitions. This investment strengthens our confidence in bringing WSO2 into more public-sector engagements across the region,” he said.
WSO2 was founded in 2005 and already has offices in Australia, Brazil, Germany, India, Spain, Sri Lanka, the UAE, the UK, and the US. The company generates more than $100 million in annual recurring revenue.
Its product lineup includes tools for building and managing APIs, integrating systems and data, handling identity and access management, and now orchestrating AI agents within enterprise workflows.
Anyone wanting to learn more can attend WSO2Con Africa in Nairobi from September 22 to 24, where the company will run hands-on workshops and share customer stories about building, governing, and scaling AI agents.
