Master Power Technologies and Digital Parks Africa have joined the IBTC DC Academy as ecosystem partners, combining hands-on equipment training with experience in a live data centre environment.
The partnership gives data centre trainees practical exposure to the infrastructure they will encounter in the workplace, while creating a talent pipeline for the companies involved.
Master Power Technologies will provide access to its newly launched training facility in Midrand, where candidates can work directly with data centre infrastructure equipment. Digital Parks Africa will provide access to a live, operational data centre, allowing trainees to see how the infrastructure operates in a production environment.
The IBTC DC Academy takes graduates and professionals from adjacent industries through training, international certification, practical internship experience and employment with data centre operators.
The practical component has traditionally been difficult to deliver at scale, particularly where candidates need exposure to physical infrastructure rather than classroom-based or simulated training.
Master Power Technologies and Digital Parks Africa are also sponsoring a full candidate cohort for the 2026 intake – the first South African organisations in the IBTC DC Academy ecosystem to do so at this scale.
For Master Power Technologies, the partnership doubles as a recruitment strategy.
“For us, this is not a training expense – it is a recruitment expense,” said Menno Parsons, founder and director of Master Power Technologies. “We can train a significant number of candidates, observe them in a real working environment, and then select the best for continued employment. The programme gives us a talent pipeline that we control – and a far better signal on candidate quality than any CV or interview ever could.”
The model allows the companies to identify potential employees during the training, rather than relying solely on conventional recruitment processes.
“Having Master Power Technologies and Digital Parks Africa inside the pipeline is a game-changer for what we can offer students,” said Nikki Maritz, founder of IBTC DC Academy. “Master Power Technologies’ training facility in Midrand gives our candidates something genuinely rare: the chance to work with live equipment in a consequence-free environment. And Digital Parks Africa shows them what that equipment looks like when it’s carrying the load of a real data centre. Between the two, we have a training environment that most industry professionals would envy.”
The partnership comes as the data centre industry grapples with a shortage of skilled technical workers as facilities expand across Africa.
Lee Perrin, board member of the Africa Data Centre Association, said direct investment by equipment manufacturers and data centre operators could help address the skills shortage.
“This kind of industry commitment is exactly what the ADCA has been calling for,” said Perrin. “When an OEM and a DC operator invest directly in the next generation of engineers, it signals that the industry is serious about solving its own talent problem. Master Power Technologies and Digital Parks Africa are setting a benchmark we hope others will follow.”
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