Microsoft is officially launching the new home of its software engineers in Kenya. The Africa Development Centre (ADC East Africa) engineering team will now be based at Dunhill Towers, along Waiyaki Way, Nairobi. Having previously shared Microsoft’s office at the Oval. The ultra-modern office facility will co-locate with Microsoft’s newly launched The Garage, design, research, and innovation teams.
The ultra-modern ADC East Africa office space borrows heavily from Microsoft’s modern workplace design. Featuring solutions that reduce or prevent the emission of carbon into the atmosphere to meet the company’s target of becoming net carbon negative by 2030. The facility will use self-heating windows, a mini solar plant, and a water treatment facility to recycle and purify water. The eco-friendly office also optimizes space utilization, air conditioning, and lighting adjustments.
Kenya president, Uhuru Kenyatta was present at the event to unveil the plaque and officially launch the office facility. Other guests present include Joe Mucheru, the Cabinet Secretary for ICT, Innovation, and Youth Affairs. As well as Joy Chik, Microsoft Corporate Vice President, Identity Division and Executive Sponsor of the Africa Development Center.
The facility will continue Microsoft’s efforts to train, equip and hire software engineers in Kenya and Africa. To contribute to the development of Microsoft products that are in use by over 1 billion devices, says ADC East Africa MD Jack Ngare.
Africa is such a young continent and Microsoft absolutely believes the future is here, notes Joy Chick, at the event. We invite all the young innovative entrepreneurs to help us collectively build technology for Africa, but more importantly for the world. This is just the beginning. We are excited about the opening of the ADC and what the future can bring, she adds.
Launched in May 2019, Microsoft says the Africa Development Center currently has about 570 full-time employees across both sites. In Nairobi, it has about 450 employees with plans to add another 50 before the year ends. Surpassing the company’s initial plan to hire 500 software engineers by the end of 2023. This number reflects roles across software engineering, machine learning, data science, market research, infrastructure, etc.
1/3 President Uhuru Kenyatta on Thursday evening presided over the official launch of the Microsoft Africa Development Centre (ADC) in Westlands, Nairobi City County. #ADCNairobiOfficepic.twitter.com/7JfcUhoCwn
Part of the festivities to kickoff the ADC Nairobi launch, we held a session with the developer community in Nairobi, where we demonstrated the plans that The Microsoft Garage has put in place to support the tech ecosystem 😊.#ADCNairobiLaunch#TheBigReset#MSFTGaragepic.twitter.com/PnB4dyoDai
— Microsoft Africa Development Center (@MicrosoftADC) March 24, 2022
[jetpack_subscription_form subscribe_placeholder=”Enter your email address” show_subscribers_total=”false” button_on_newline=”false” submit_button_text=”Hi, <br>sign up so you can get the latest <br>in breaking news, reviews, <br>opinions, events,<br> opportunities and <br>community updates right <br>in your inbox. ” custom_font_size=”16px” custom_border_radius=”0″ custom_border_weight=”1″ custom_padding=”15″ custom_spacing=”10″ submit_button_classes=”” email_field_classes=”” show_only_email_and_button=”true”]
Microsoft is announcing the Developer Cloud Summit: Middle East and Africa 2022 technical conference scheduled to take place March 30, 2022. At 12 PM – 16:30 PM (GMT+4). The event will bring together speakers from across Microsoft, GitHub and the developer community. Where it will provide deep-dive learning opportunities and hands-on experience on trending and innovative platforms in the cloud.
The Developer Cloud Summit topics include Cloud Native futures, AI-based applications, Remote DevOps practices, Rapid Innovation methodology and best practices on modernizing legacy .Net & Java applications with new cloud capabilities. Learn about app migration and modernization, low code apps, coding in the cloud, GitHub Copilot and many more. There will also be a party to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the .Net platform.
Stormy Peters, VP of Communities GitHub will talk about “lessons we learned working with Open Source at Microsoft”. Whilst Jeff Hollan, Director of Product, Azure Apps, Microsoft, will dive into “build scalable apps faster than ever before”. Other speakers include Adir Ron, Cloud Application & Innovation, Middle East & Africa, Microsoft.
Microsoft says that an ecosystem of developers, innovators and open-source communities are teaming up to build together the future of technology in the current Cloud-Native era.
Click to visit the Cloud Summit: Middle East & Africa 2022 technical conference page for more details and to register.
[jetpack_subscription_form subscribe_placeholder=”Enter your email address” show_subscribers_total=”false” button_on_newline=”false” submit_button_text=”Hi, sign up so you can get the latest in breaking news, reviews, opinions, events, opportunities and community updates right in your inbox. ” custom_font_size=”16px” custom_border_radius=”0″ custom_border_weight=”1″ custom_padding=”15″ custom_spacing=”10″ submit_button_classes=”” email_field_classes=”” show_only_email_and_button=”true”]
Microsoft Africa Development Center (ADC) is launching the 3rd season of its sponsored Game of Learners (GOL) student hackathon competition. The GOL initiative aims to improve digital and coding abilities among African university students. The Microsoft student hackathon participants will seek to find solutions that address the effects of climate change on the continent.
This year the 5-week hackathon’s objective is to propose solutions that reduce or reverse gas emissions and footprints, based on the theme Climate Change & Sustainability. Season 3 has a total of 8 teams made up of 5 participants from across East Africa participating. A Microsoft Learn Student Ambassador will lead each team and they will get mentorship and training from Microsoft.
The program’s main objective is to establish a fun, hands-on learning experience for students. It provides a virtual environment where students learn new technologies and build impactful solutions for their community. Overall, the program provides a platform for Microsoft Learn Student Ambassadors to hone their leadership skills as Team Captains while leading and building impactful solutions with the learners.
The best project will collaborate with the Green Belt Movement to advance the winning solution. Weekly episodes of the GOL Show will be available online as the teams document their progress. Other winning categories are; people’s choice (project with most votes on DevPost), Best Media Presence (best video content) and Learners (highest team average points on Microsoft Learn).
”Part of our mission in ADC is solving Africa’s problems with Microsoft technology,” said ADC Managing Director Jack Ngare while making the announcement. “Africa is not immune to climate change challenges, and this is one of the issues we’d like to see tackled using Microsoft technology while also upskilling and enabling higher education tech enthusiasts in the region.”
Green Belt Movement’s Paul Thiong’o welcomed this year’s theme on climate change, noting that it’s in line with the organization’s vision to have a values-driven society of people who consciously work for continued improvement of their livelihoods and a greener, cleaner world.
“At the Green Belt Movement, we believe in empowering communities to take action against climate change, whose effects are already being felt across Africa. Our experience shows that when the communities understand the linkage between their actions, environment, and their livelihood situations, they are more likely to muster their energies and act for change. As a result, we are delighted to be a part of this noble initiative, which will see our young people contribute positively to ongoing efforts to address climate change challenges.”
“The GOL engages directly with students regardless of the higher education institution they come from. Born virtual, GOL is a program without borders. All GOL activities are supported by volunteers from Microsoft and partners as coaches, mentors, judges, speakers, and trainers,” Ngare explains, adding: “GOL is formed like a sports league, starting with a season, and followed by off-season clinics and exhibitions.”
[jetpack_subscription_form subscribe_placeholder=”Enter your email address” show_subscribers_total=”false” button_on_newline=”false” submit_button_text=”Hi, sign up so you can get the latest in breaking news, reviews, opinions, events, opportunities and community updates right in your inbox. ” custom_font_size=”16px” custom_border_radius=”0″ custom_border_weight=”1″ custom_padding=”15″ custom_spacing=”10″ submit_button_classes=”” email_field_classes=”” show_only_email_and_button=”true”]
Five student teams from Kenya, Cameroon and South Africa are advancing to the 2022 Microsoft Imagine Cup World Finals. For an opportunity to win over USD50,000 in prizing and a slot in the World Championship in May. Where they can win the grand prize of USD100,000 and a mentoring session with Microsoft Chairman and CEO, Satya Nadella.
In the Imagine Cup World Finals round, they will compete against 43 other finalists from across the world. The teams will pitch their ideas to judges, demo their solutions, and engage in a question and answer session. Projects will be judged on their innovative use of Azure technology, accessibility and inclusion, and its marketability as a business idea.
The Africa Imagine Cup World Finalists include three student teams from Kenya, one from Cameroon and one from South Africa. They developed projects and solutions in the Education, Health and Earth competition categories. Five teams from the Middle East and Six from Europe bring this number to 16 finalists from the EMEA region.
Here are the teams, the qualifying category, the country and details about their solutions.
Imagine Cup World Finals – Africa Teams
Alpha14 – South Africa, Education category
ULearn is an online learning platform that consists of exciting and interactive activities, assessments, simple flashcards, and numerous types of rewards. Activities are fun and motivate Down Syndrome children to learn and gather valuable statistics to track progress and emotions.
Neural Voxel – Kenya, Health category
Neural Voxel enables specialists to easily and swiftly diagnose various forms of diseases in MRI and CT scans with much higher accuracy while at the same time reducing the workload and fatigue rates of specialists.
Sayari – Kenya, Earth category
In order to reduce post-harvest losses and maximize yields for farmers, the Ideal Monitoring System aims to ensure ideal conditions for the safe storage and transportation of produce in transit and in stores.
Team U-Map – Cameroon, Education category
U-Map is a mobile app that serves to provide geolocation services so students and lecturers can get directions to any location on campus using their mobile phones.
The_X_Team – Kenya, Education category
Kaizen helps mitigate issues affecting education in Africa.
[jetpack_subscription_form subscribe_placeholder=”Enter your email address” show_subscribers_total=”false” button_on_newline=”false” submit_button_text=”Hi, sign up so you can get the latest in breaking news, reviews, opinions, events, opportunities and community updates right in your inbox. ” custom_font_size=”16px” custom_border_radius=”0″ custom_border_weight=”1″ custom_padding=”15″ custom_spacing=”10″ submit_button_classes=”” email_field_classes=”” show_only_email_and_button=”true”]
Futurize is launching its first annual Fuel Africa Innovation Program from March 17 to 25, 2022. In partnership with AstraZeneca, through the A.Catalyst Network, and Microsoft and co-funded by Bristol Myers Squibb and Famfa Oil. To equip young entrepreneurs with the resources to build high-potential venture ideas and contribute to sustainable development globally.
Fuel Africa 2022 will bring together students and alumni of 12 universities across 7 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa to address some of the continent’s most pressing challenges in healthcare. Through a virtual entrepreneurship bootcamp and innovation hackathon competition.
Coding or healthcare experiences are not a requirement to participate in the program. Participants will receive mentorship and hands-on training to build solutions for early-stage business ventures. It is currently focusing on solutions that provide access to healthcare as well as the screening, early diagnosis and optimal management of Non-Communicable Diseases. Winners will get investment money and opportunities to advance their careers.
Participating universities include Amref International University (AMIU), African Leadership University (ALU), Covenant University, JFN Institute of Technology, Obafemi Awolowo University, University of Ibadan, University of Ghana, University of Lagos, University of Nigeria, University of Capetown, Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology and the University of Nairobi.
“Microsoft, through the Africa Transformation Office, is committed to supporting education transformation across Africa with access to learning tools, resources and technology. We look forward to seeing what innovative solutions to pressing concerns these bright minds will develop during the program.”
Yacine Barro Bourgault, Enablement Lead, Africa Transformation Office at Microsoft.
[jetpack_subscription_form subscribe_placeholder=”Enter your email address” show_subscribers_total=”false” button_on_newline=”false” submit_button_text=”Hi, sign up so you can get the latest in breaking news, reviews, opinions, events, opportunities and community updates right in your inbox. ” custom_font_size=”16px” custom_border_radius=”0″ custom_border_weight=”1″ custom_padding=”15″ custom_spacing=”10″ submit_button_classes=”” email_field_classes=”” show_only_email_and_button=”true”]
