Speakers

Riaan de Leeuw is the Business Development Lead for MEA within Zutari. With over 27 years of experience in data centre technologies and infrastructure across Africa and emerging markets, he is widely recognized for his expertise in the critical data centre facilities, and the associated geographical dynamics

In his current role, Riaan is responsible for driving the growth of turnkey professional consulting services across the Middle East and Africa. Working through Zutari’s geographical footprint and 32 offices across Middle East and Africa, he works closely with clients, partners, and industry stakeholders to deliver high-performance, resilient, and future-ready data centre solutions aligned with global best practices.

Riaan is particularly passionate about excellence in end-to-end data centre design, with a strong focus on energy efficiency, scalability, redundancy, and sustainability. His approach combines engineering rigour with forward-thinking innovation to meet the demands of rapidly evolving digital infrastructure.

Riaan is an active voice and a regular contributor to industry thought leadership. He shares insights on topics such as modernising legacy facilities, future-proofing investments, and the impact of high-performance computing and AI on data centre design and construction. He regularly speaks at industry events and conferences across the MEA region to help shape the future of mission-critical infrastructure.