Microsoft SharePoint is a web-based collaborative platform that integrates with Microsoft Office.
It is primarily used for document management and storage, but it also provides features such as intranet portals, social networking, and business intelligence.
SharePoint in Microsoft 365 empowers teamwork with dynamic and productive team sites for every project team, department, and division, Share files, data, news, and resources.
Collaborate effortlessly and securely with team members inside and outside your organization, across PCs, Macs, and mobile devices.
Benefits of SharePoint
Improved data management:
SharePoint allows you to store, organize, share and access critical business information from any device.
You can also use features such as file versioning, document check-in/check-out, indexing and searching to manage your documents more efficiently
Integration with Office 365 tools:
SharePoint integrates with Microsoft products such as Outlook, MSTeams, and OneDrive.
This means you can access your SharePoint files from your email, chat with your team members, and sync your files across devices.
Customization and branding:
You can quickly and easily customize the look of your SharePoint site to reflect your professional style and brand.
And also you can choose one of the default SharePoint themes or a company theme with approved branding.
You can also adjust the site header, footer, logo and background.
Collaboration and communication:
SharePoint enables you to create team sites for every project, department and division, and also share files, data, news and resources with your team members.
You can also use SharePoint pages to create engaging web content with rich media and web parts.
You can also use SharePoint news to keep everyone informed about the latest updates and announcements
Microsoft is promising its commitment to working with both the private and public sectors to accelerate digital transformation in African agriculture in order to increase food security for the continent.
Speaking during a virtual roundtable panel discussion on the topic, Microsoft Kenya Acting Country Manager Kunle Awosika said the organisation is committed to continuing investing in agritech on the continent, with the goal of developing agritech that enables data-driven, precise and connected farming that optimises yields, boosts farm productivity and increases profitability.
“We understand that these important issues will not be solved by one company, but through partnerships with the private sector and our partners in government for maximum impact and benefit to the farmers of Africa,” he said.
Speaking at the same forum, ATO Coordinator, Agriculture Transformation Office, Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Cooperatives Thule Lenneiye, said: “Through partnerships such as the one with Microsoft, we can offer our smallholder farmers valuable services that help them modernize and digitize age-old farming practices, increasing productivity and boosting food security for our communities and country.”
One way in which agritech changes the face of agriculture is through democratising information. In partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture, Microsoft is investing in the Kenyan National Agriculture Platform as a key initiative to drive digitalization in agriculture. As part of this investment, a developer team based in Kenya has developed an Agri chatbot, which provides extension and advisory services to smallholder farmers using either feature phones or smartphones, via SMS, WhatsApp and Telegram.
The AgriBot provides a key platform that farmers can use to access all the relevant information from the Ministry of Agriculture and other government institutions, as well as services from the private sector. These services are invaluable to the over 400,000 farmers already on the platform who would otherwise not have access to such a resource.
Olatomiwa Williams, Microsoft Country Manager Nigeria and Ghana speaking at the forum said the organization is working with stakeholders to identify and develop sustainable and inclusive digital solutions for agro-products and services that seamlessly connect farmers, customers and other stakeholders in the ecosystem. Importantly to improve the economic situation of farmers in Nigeria.
Microsoft also recently announced that it is extending its partnership with the Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). The initial collaboration between the two organizations started in 2019 when Microsoft and AGRA co-created the AgriBot as a digital solution for localized extension and advisory services for smallholder farmers.
The new phase of the relationship will promote digital innovation and technology as an enabler to connect the agriculture ecosystems, sustainably integrating stakeholders in the service of strategic value chains.
“Our partnership with AGRA forms part of Microsoft’s ongoing investment in agritech across the continent as we support digital transformation in the sector. We’re excited to continue building locally relevant technology solutions that address the local farmers’ needs and deliver meaningful impact,” added Kunle.
On his part, John Macharia, AGRA Kenya Country Manager, said: “At AGRA, we realized early on that digital innovation is critical in advancing food security and poverty eradication in Africa. Our partnership with Microsoft will directly support governments, SMEs and farmers, by bringing the digital tools needed to build resilient food systems.”
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Microsoft is announcing its partner of the year award winners and here is a list of winning organizations in Africa. The announcement comes ahead of Microsoft Inspire 2021 where it will celebrate exemplary achievements from across its global partner ecosystem. Microsoft Inspire 2021 partner event, is set to take place July 14-15 as a free global digital event.
Microsoft uses the partner award to recognize outstanding accomplishments within its partner community. This year, the company received over four thousand entries from one hundred and thirty countries across fifty-six categories. Microsoft introduced a new category, the Social Impact Award which includes awards for Community Response, Inclusion Changemaker, and Sustainability Changemaker.
Ten partner organizations emerge as award winners in 2021. Cloud Productivity Solutions, Kenya is the only winner from last year to win this year as well. Ghana recorded an award winner for the second year in a row. Senegal for the third year in a row failed to register an award winner. Côte d’Ivoire is back with a winner after failing to register an award winner in 2020. Namibia failed to register a winner this year.
Below are Microsoft Partner Africa winners from the country and region category.
Microsoft Partner Africa Award Winners country category
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Check out other stories making the news in the technology ecosystem in Africa and the Middle East.
It is a virtual hands-on workshop and will take place from the 3rd to the 7th of May 2021.
The company says its goals are to help participants deepen their technical knowledge and sharpen their interview skills. It will also give them an opportunity to network and interact with Microsoft female software engineers.
Business Program Manager at Microsoft Nigeria, Princess Anya says this workshop is for you if you applied for a software engineering role in a top technology organization and couldn’t get the position.
To participate in the workshop check out the eligibility requirements from the application page. Some are to have a year and above experience in programming, be a resident of Nigeria or Ghana.
Don’t forget to kindly share this with anyone in your network who might benefit from this workshop.
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Check out other stories making the news in the technology ecosystem in Africa and the Middle East.
Microsoft is announcing it has helped over 30 million people in 249 countries and territories acquire digital skills. Out of this, over one million learners across Africa participated in the Microsoft Global Skills program.
The global skills initiative offers free online courses across Microsoft, LinkedIn, and GitHub learning platforms. It seeks to help people, mostly those affected by the pandemic gain in-demand skills to be employable.
Across the Middle East and Africa region, 2.1 million learners have participated in the program. With software development, customer service, project manager and data analysis being the popular learning paths among learners.
The top 10 countries with learners across Africa are South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt, Morocco, Kenya, Tunisia, Algeria, Ghana, Senegal and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Comoros, Sao tome and Principe, Eritrea, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Seychelles and the Central African Republic are countries with less than 500 learners.
To get more Africans to acquire digital skills, Microsoft is also partnering with organizations and governments. Offering additional funding and services to make this possible where this is necessary.
Microsoft is extending the free LinkedIn Learning and Microsoft Learn courses and low-cost certifications that align to 10 of the most in-demand jobs offer through 2021.
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Check out other stories making the news in the technology ecosystem in Africa and the Middle East.
The initiative will will focus on training women and girls in software development, product design, product management, data science and AI engineering, and cybersecurity.
The Women Techsters initiative is opened to girls and women aged 16 to 40 years in the 54 African Countries. However, the program is launching in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Egypt and South Africa. With plans to scale the initiative to girls and women in more African countries later.
The training will be delivered through a series of simultaneous activities such as; bootcamps, open days, masterclasses and fellowships.
Microsoft says the program has been developed in such a way that participants will not only learn and develop deep technical skills. But they can fill knowledge gaps, learn coding skills and jumpstart their careers.
Prior to the launch, Microsoft piloted the initiative with Tech4dev in Nigeria called the Nigeria Women Techsters. Fatima Ahmed a participant in the Tech4Dev Nigerian Women Techsters program says; I thought I was just coming to learn new skills and go back to apply for jobs. But during the training, I started getting job opportunities. Today, I work as a technical support engineer at Tek Experts, where I provide cloud-based solutions. I am glad I took a bold step to come for the Nigerian Women Techsters training.Read more about her experience and what to expect here.
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