Cherian Varghese, Oracle VP and MD of technology in Africa, looks remarkably well for someone recovering from Covid-19. On our Zoom call in January, he says he travelled home to Mumbai on leave, and then tested positive, which turned the vacation into quarantine at home. He says he’s awaiting a negative test so he can head back to the head office in Dubai.

We were speaking just a day before the launch of the company’s cloud region in Johannesburg on January 19, its first on the continent.