Belgian networking and cybersecurity specialist ATOMNIA has announced a major step in its African expansion, supported by the Wallonia Export and Investment Agency (AWEX) and Belgian technology incubator IGNITY. The partnership will accelerate the company’s pay-as-you-go OMNIA solution across the continent through local enablement partner Smart Hands Africa.
The announcement was made during a signing ceremony at the AfricaCom reception hosted at the Belgian Consulate in Cape Town. ATOMNIA CEO and co-founder Anthony Senter said the collaboration with AWEX and IGNITY has been instrumental in strengthening the company’s international presence and opening new pathways across Africa.
Senter said the company is focused on growing its network of partners and contributing to business development across the region. He added that African organisations continue to face remote locations, unreliable connectivity, and inconsistent electricity supply, challenges that OMNIA is designed to address swiftly.
EU and Belgian investment in Africa
Europe remains one of South Africa’s largest economic partners. EU member states currently account for 41 percent of all foreign direct investment in the country. More than 2,000 EU companies operate in South Africa, collectively generating over half a million direct and indirect jobs.
Belgium is South Africa’s fifth largest EU supplier and third largest EU client. In 2024, Belgian exports to South Africa reached EUR 1.5 billion and at during the same period imports totalled EUR 2.9 billion.
Catherine Bauwens, Trade and Investment Counsellor at AWEX, said digital transformation across the continent is accelerating and that South Africa, especially Cape Town, offers a dynamic environment for international technology partnerships. She added that a digital technology mission earlier this year generated positive outcomes for Belgian companies.
OMNIA tailored for African business realities
OMNIA is an integrated SASE and SD-WAN solution that combines cybersecurity, connectivity, and AI-driven threat detection into a single package. The product is designed to reduce the complexity and high costs typically associated with global networking vendors.
Smart Hands Africa CEO Anton Jacobsz said many African organisations face restrictive multi-year contracts and high upfront hardware costs. OMNIA’s subscription and pay-as-you-go model lowers barriers for small and medium businesses, especially those operating in remote or underserved areas.
According to ATOMNIA, the solution eliminates the need for separate firewalls, analytics tools, and networking components. The all-in-one device supports multiple connection types, including fibre, LTE and 5G, as well as satellite options such as Starlink. It also runs on a 12-volt battery backup, a key feature for regions with unreliable power. The design makes OMNIA suitable for retail outlets, schools, and other remote installations.
Senter said the product goes beyond conventional SD-WAN by combining flexible connectivity, multi-layered security, and ease of deployment in a single system.
ATOMNIA has been working with IGNITY for five years, with the incubator supporting its global scale-up efforts. IGNITY’s Nicolas Vanhaelen said the organisation is proud to support ATOMNIA’s push to offer secure and independent connectivity solutions that operate outside traditional industry constraints. He added that their shared mission is to bring reliable and affordable digital access to underserved regions.
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