The London Internet Exchange’s (LINX) Head of Global Engagement Nurani Nimpuno has been awarded with the Consistent Supporters Award at the African Peering and Interconnection Forum (AfPIF), praised for her contributions to advancing Africa’s Peering Internet ecosystem.
Over the past two years, Nimpuno has taken LINX’s African journey from concept to reality. In November 2023, LINX Nairobi was launched and expanded to PAIX data centre in March 2025, in February this year, LINX Mombasa to expand the company’s footprint in Kenya, and in LINX continues to build its presence in Ghana with LINX Accra close to launch from Onix data centre, PAIX, and the new Digital Realty facility in Q4. Nimpuno is actively involved with Internet policy and Internet governance globally, focused on Internet exchange points, interconnection and infrastructure.
Upon winning the award, Nurani Nimpuno, Head of Global Engagement at LINX, said:
“As someone who has been involved in AfPiF since the early days 10-15 years ago and have seen it grow and mature to what it is today, I’m incredibly honoured to receive this award.” “The knowledge sharing and support in this community has led to a flourishing of interconnection players on the continent. If I have been able to contribute a little bit along the way, then I am incredibly pleased. But this award really belongs to all of those I have learned from over the years and all those who have made this community what it is today.”
This year’s AfPIF event took place in Lagos, Nigeria, and was hosted by IXPN, Rack Centre and Af-CIX. AfPIF started as a platform to reduce Africa’s reliance on offshore routing, growing into a cornerstone of the region’s Internet economy strategy.
Thirteen people were named Africa Peering Champions: Frank Habicht (Tanzania Internet Exchange), Nishal Goburdhan (Packet Clearing House), Mark Tinka (SEACOM), Kyle Spencer (African IXP Association), Hisham Ibrahim (RIPE NCC), Fearghas McKay (FLEXOPTIX GmbH), Michele Opiyo (Meta/Internet Society), Ben Roberts (DigitalEconomy.ke), Andrew Owens (NAPAfrica), Jane Coffin (Connect Humanity), Darwin Da Costa (DE-CIX) and Nico Tshintu Bakajika (Internet Service Provider Association – DRC).
The Consistent Supports Award was given to: Fiona Asonga (Technology Service Providers of Kenya), Carla Sanderson (NAPAfrica/Teraco), Nurani Nimpuno (London Internet Exchange (LINX), Yolandi Robinson (De-CIX), Matthew Chigwende (Group Head of Network Engineering at Liquid Telecoms), Mathieu Paonessa (CTO GVA), Heather Third (NSRC), Ben Ryall (Meta), Caglar Dabanoglu (AKAMAI), Simon Mayoye (TESPOK),
Jorgen Grinnes (AWS), Madhvi Gookol (AfriNIC), Edrich de Lange (INX-ZA / ISPA), Patrick Christian (TeleGeography), Dr. Ayotunde Coker (Open Access Data Centres) and Prof. Meoli Kashorda (Kenya Education Network). The Leadership Award was presented to the Internet Society’s internal team, including Dawit Bekele and Marsema Tariku, Dawit Bekele, Marsema Tariku, Betel Hailu, Sally Harvey, Jean Baptiste Millogo, Ghislain Nkeramugaba, Henok Sisay, Kevin Chege and Amreesh Phokeer.