Microsoft launches Founders Hub in Africa to support 10,000 startups

Microsoft launches Founders Hub in Africa to support 10,000 startups

Microsoft is bringing the Startups Founders Hub to startups in Africa through new initiatives by the Africa Transformation Office. The Founders Hub tries to remove traditional barriers that startups face when building a company. African startups will be able to get free access to technology, coaching, and support to hit their next milestone.

The self-service hub, Microsoft Notes, will provide startups with a wide range of resources. This includes access to mentors, skilling content, tools like Microsoft Azure and GitHub, and go-to-market and business support.

Founders Hub Microsoft Africa

The Founders Hub also includes opportunities for startups to sell to Microsoft’s corporate and enterprise customers. Helping with some of the early challenges startups face when it comes to finding customers. Microsoft will also support startups in geo-expansion activities, where startups can scale up by selling in new countries or regions. 

The Founders Hub allows Microsoft to engage with accelerators, incubators and tech hubs across the continent“, says Gerald Maithya, Startups Lead, Microsoft Africa Transformation Office.  

Our partnerships with key African accelerators provide crucial support to accelerate growth-stage startups with their business development and market expansion plans.

Gerald Maithya

This is part of new Microsoft initiatives under its Africa Transformation Office to accelerate the growth of 10,000 African startups and fast-track investment in Africa’s start-up ecosystem over the next five years. Including the announcement of $500 million investment funding to enable startups to rapidly scale. And new partnerships with accelerators and incubators to provide startups with access to markets, technical skills and funding.

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Microsoft to support African startups with $500 million investment funding

Microsoft to support African startups with $500 million investment funding

Microsoft is announcing plans to support African startups with $500 million in potential funding in partnership with venture capital investors to enable them to rapidly scale using investment funding. This is part of new initiatives under its Africa Transformation Office to accelerate the growth of 10,000 African startups over the next five years. Including the launch of Microsoft Startups Founders Hub in Africa and new partnerships with accelerators and incubators to provide startups with access to markets, technical skills and funding.

Microsoft will establish industry alliances and partnerships with venture capital investors to facilitate access to the $500 million funding. Targeting those with global reach and regional bases with an interest in one or more regions within Africa. The funding will come from a network of venture capital investors, who will dedicate a portion of their financial support to startups in the Microsoft network.  

African startups ecosystem

Our ambition is to see an explosion of local invention

Wael Elkabbany

The company has established partnerships with key venture capital investors, including Banque Misr, Global Venture Capital and Get Funded Africa. With plans to grow this network of venture capital investors in the next five years. This will allow it to increase funding to startups and enable them to scale up and drive economic growth. 

Our goal in establishing these partnerships with venture capital investors is to extend the network of potential partnerships between Microsoft, venture capital investors and startups, thereby increasing the funding made available to eligible startups,” says Gerald Maithya, Startups Lead, Microsoft Africa Transformation Office.  

Microsoft believes the African startup market is well placed to become a cornerstone of the continent’s digital economy, supporting local innovation through relevant solutions to societal challenges.  

Our ambition is to see an explosion of local invention,” says Wael Elkabbany, Managing Director, Microsoft Africa Transformation Office. “That will contribute positively, not just to Africa’s digital economy, but to global society he concludes“.

There is huge potential for Africa to become a thriving hub of digital innovation on the global start-up landscape.” 

Wael Elkabbany

Microsoft hopes to enable digital transformation powered by Africans for Africans with the establishment of the Africa Transformation Office. It will partner with public and private organizations to empower Africans and foster economic prosperity.

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Telefónica extends Microsoft partnership, brings gaming, Surface devices and Teams to new markets

Telefónica extends Microsoft partnership, brings gaming, Surface devices and Teams to new markets

Telefónica is announcing the expansion of its global strategic relationship with Microsoft. It will focus on accelerating the creation of joint initiatives in the consumer market. By bringing solutions in areas such as gaming, connectivity, communications, secure access to data and new Living Apps to existing and new markets.

Telefónica

The company is looking to expand services for corporate and consumers with the new partnership. Chema Alonso, Chief Digital Officer at Telefónica made the announcement at Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2022 taking place in Barcelona.

We celebrate reaching a new level of collaboration in our strategic relationship with Microsoft to generate new opportunities and expand existing ones in the consumer, digital home and innovation space”.

Chema Alonso

Last year, it launched Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and the commercialization of Xbox consoles in Spain. It will be looking at bringing this service to other markets where it operates. Telefónica is looking to offer a monthly subscription of Microsoft 365 in markets where it has a presence. It also plans to bring access to select LinkedIn Learning content to its Movistar Plus+ television platform. Users will be able to connect to video conferences and make calls through Microsoft Teams using Movistar Home. Finally, Telefónica will run joint commercial and marketing initiatives on Surface devices in Telefónica’s markets in Europe.

The Chairman of Telefónica and GSMA, José María Álvarez-Pallete, notes the company has achieved important milestones in its collaboration with Microsoft. And is looking forward to working on new services based on their state of the art connectivity and the transformative power of AI.

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Microsoft Student hackathon winners get hired as full-time software engineers at Microsoft

Microsoft Student hackathon winners get hired as full-time software engineers at Microsoft

Four undergraduate students teamed up to participate in the 2021 Microsoft Student Hackathon, they eventually emerged winners and have received and accepted offers to join Microsoft as full-time software engineers. The students Gloria Keya, David Lutta, Christine Wambui, and Audrey Njenga will start their professional careers at Microsoft when they graduate from school.

They are all final year students pursuing computer science at universities located in Kenya and Rwanda. Firstly, Gloria and Christine are students at the University of Nairobi(UoN) in Kenya. Whilst David is a student at the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology(JKUAT). Finally, Audrey is a student at the African Leadership University(ALU) based in Rwanda.

Microsoft Student hackathon Kenya Africa

The students who had just completed their summer internship with Microsoft learned about the hackathon and decided to extend their Microsoft experience. By forming a team to participate in the student hackathon. Which was concurrently taking place with the Microsoft Global Hackathon for Microsoft employees. The hackathon event was to hack solutions for Sustainability, Society, Education, and Ability using Microsoft technologies. In all, there were students from 22 other countries participating in the virtual Microsoft student hackathon. Over the course of just a week, they conceived, built, and tested their idea.

We wanted to create an opportunity after their Microsoft internship for the students to stay connected to Microsoft and use the skills and knowledge they acquired in a new project and challenge that reflected their own passion,” says Steve Scallen, Senior Director of University Engagement at the Microsoft Garage. “They were all summer interns at Microsoft, and they all have offers to come back, which they’ve accepted. We are very excited they have chosen to start their professional careers at Microsoft.”

The students won the grand prize-winning project with their idea Forest Guard. Which falls under the hack for earth challenge and sustainability category. Forest Guard is a real-time on-site deforestation sensor and alert system that detects and reports dangerous or illegal activity in protected forests. It will be able to detect illegal logging and forest fire, using an IoT tool and Azure cognitive services.

Microsoft says they will have the opportunity to continue hacking the Forest Guard at The Garage when they begin work as full-time software engineers at Microsoft Nairobi in 2022. Microsoft is bringing The Garage program to Africa and will be opening new locations on the Microsoft Lagos and Nairobi campuses. The Garage is a Microsoft resource for employees to connect, experiment and be creative outside of their day job.

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Microsoft is set to acquire Activision Blizzard at $68.7 billion and become the world’s third-largest gaming company

Microsoft is set to acquire Activision Blizzard at $68.7 billion and become the world’s third-largest gaming company

Microsoft is set to become the world’s third-largest gaming company by revenue with the acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The company has agreed to acquire Activision Blizzard Inc. in a transaction valued at $68.7 billion. Microsoft will launch Activision’s games into the Xbox Game Pass portfolio bringing users games such as Warcraft, Diablo, Overwatch, Call of Duty and Candy Crush. Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO believes this acquisition will provide a building block for the Microsoft metaverse.

Activision Blizzard Microsoft

This will become the biggest acquisition since Satya Nadella took over as the Microsoft CEO. Surpassing the $26 Billion Microsoft paid to acquire LinkedIn in 2016. Last year Microsoft acquired ZeniMax Media (Bethesda Softworks) for $7.5 billion in a move to build an industry-leading first-party Xbox games studios. The new acquisition will increase Microsoft’s internal game development studios to thirty. It will also bring with it Activision’s global eSports activities through Major League Gaming.

Gaming is the most dynamic and exciting category in entertainment across all platforms today and will play a key role in the development of metaverse platforms,” says Satya Nadella, chairman and CEO, Microsoft. “We’re investing deeply in world-class content, community and the cloud to usher in a new era of gaming that puts players and creators first and makes gaming safe, inclusive and accessible to all.”

Microsoft says Activision Blizzard will continue to operate independently until the deal closes in the fiscal year 2023. Then once the deal is complete Activision business will report to Microsoft Gaming CEO, Phil Spencer. Phil notes “we will offer as many Activision Blizzard games as we can within Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass, both new titles and games from Activision Blizzard’s incredible catalog“.

Together we will build a future where people can play the games they want, virtually anywhere they want.”

Phil Spencer, CEO, Microsoft Gaming

Microsoft is also announcing a new Xbox Game Pass milestone with over 25 million subscribers today. The company will be looking to increase this with the introduction of new and exclusive games and titles.

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Microsoft AI for Accessibility low-cost Assistive Technology grant, Request for Proposals

Microsoft AI for Accessibility low-cost Assistive Technology grant, Request for Proposals

The Microsoft AI for Accessibility program is calling for project proposals that advance access to assistive technology for people with disabilities, especially in low- and middle-income communities.

Microsoft says the use of artificial intelligence (AI) is optional for project submissions in this round. The company also urges Universities, non-profits, for-profit companies, startups, and other organizations to apply.

In this Request for Proposals (RFP) Microsoft is prioritizing scalable solutions in three categories. These are Access to affordable devices, Relevant and localized software and Awareness, upskilling and community.

The RFP is open to applicants from any country or region. This round will focus on innovations that empower people with disabilities outside of the US.

The deadline to submit the Microsoft AI for Accessibility Grant application is 11:59 PM PST on January 12, 2022 (7:59 AM GMT on January 13 2022). Selected finalists will be invited to pitch to a review panel in February and award decisions will be finalized in March.

Click to visit the online application page for more details including the grant selection process and criteria.

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