Microsoft held it’s annual Worldwide Partners Conference in Toronto, Canada this month. The event is held yearly to appreciate the efforts of it’s partners in delivering Microsoft Services around the world.
“These partners and their award nominations were truly exceptional, and their accomplishments should be viewed as examples of excellence for every Microsoft partner. Their achievements have enabled clients to perform sufficiently and have given a unique level of autonomy to businesses that was just not possible before,” says Amr Kamel, General Manager (acting) for Microsoft WECA.
Of the many Microsoft Partners around the world 6 of them operating in Africa received recognition. These were honoured as the country Partner of the year at the Worldwide Partner Conference 2016;
Softnet (Country Partner of The Year – Burkina Faso)
SOFTNET has been working with Microsoft in improving the e-gov project with the EPG team. They also worked with the EPG team in the SIGU project.
INOVA (Country Partner of The Year – Côte d’Ivoire)
INOVA specialized in software development, system integration, networking infrastructure and Training. INOVA have been a Microsoft Certified Partner and training center (CPLS) since 2004. They are the first gold partner in The Cloud productivity in Cote d’Ivoire.
Business Connexion Namibia (Pty) Ltd. (Country Partner of The Year – Namibia)
Business Connexion Namibia (Pty) Ltd continuously use Microsoft platform products and solutions to build innovation ICT solutions for their customers. Partners such as Business Connexion play a vital role in growing Microsoft’s footprint in countries such as Namibia through their focus Microsoft approach.
Signal Alliance (Country Partner of The Year – Nigeria)
Signal Alliance are the most Cloud Competent partner in the ecosystem, accomplishing 1 Gold Cloud and 2 silver competencies this year. In FY16 they displayed a high level of commitment to our Cloud Transformation Journey, which is evident in their performance till date.
Dimension Data (Country Partner of The Year – Rwanda)
Through consistent and strategic customer Engagement, Dimension Data have been able to “win over Rwanda as a country”. Working together with Microsoft, Dimension Data closed the 1st ever full Cloud banking deal in Rwanda, Bank of Kigali. Dimension Data is currently also engaged in the deployment of Office 365 Edu at the ministry of Education. A large transformative project that will impact millions of students.
FTF (Country Partner of The Year – Senegal)
FTF is a solutions provider in complementary areas of computing covering cloud services, the design and the implementation of Basic Infrastructure services, infrastructure services supporting productivity, infrastructure services supporting the application platform, security, training, and support.
Dimension Data (Country Partner of The Year – Tanzania)
Dimension Data has shown key strengths in understanding the Tanzania market therefore selecting strategically which sectors to play in. Dimension Data has been able to achieve significant progress in positioning additional products like share point.
At the Honouring Our Partner Awards ceremony the following companies received awards;
Microsoft West, East and Central Africa (WECA) also rewarded their Microsoft Partners for excellence in specific competencies:
Techno Brain (Kenya) for application development
eSolutions Consulting (Ghana) for cloud packaged solutions and education
Dimension Data Solutions (Kenya) for communications and cloud productivity
The Cloud Factory EMEA (Mauritius) received the data platform award as well as the data analytics award along with Currimjee Informatics (Mauritius)
Full Technologies Formations (Senegal) received an award for hybrid cloud and infrastructure
M-KOPA Solar (Kenya) received the Internet of Things (IoT) award
ComputerPride (Kenya) got the learning award
M2M Systems (Kenya) received the small and midmarket cloud solutions award
Inova Solutions got the Windows and devices deployment award
Elytis (Mauritius) was named distributor of the Year
Eclectics International (Kenya) received the Microsoft Dynamics Industry award
Novabase (Mozambique) received the government award
Finally, VeriPark received the General Manager Award for their partnership with Microsoft in developing products that drive great service and meet customers’ business needs.
Microsoft Nigeria brought together some of Nigeria’s bloggers to a special Bloggers Meet Up session at their office in Lagos.
PIC.: Twitter: Olusola Amusan
Microsoft Nigeria got together some bloggers from Nigeria to their Victoria Island, Lagos head office. This was a an opportunity for the bloggers to meet the Microsoft team and learn about some Microsoft Technologies.
The social media enthusiasts invited were taken through Windows 10, Windows 10 upgrade from older Microsoft Windows generations. Windows 10 features such as personal assistant; Cortana, security in Windows 10, a more familiar user interface, Office 365 and the cloud.
There was also introduction to some of the new features coming in the Windows 10 Anniversary Update at the bloggers meet up. How SME’s and NGO’s can take advantage of special Microsoft packages.
Microsoft Nigeria Communication Lead, Yemi Orimolade was around to welcome the guest and get things rolling.
If your business is less than 5 years old, privately held, and earns less than $1M annually and you need some startup help. The Microsoft BizSpark program is there to help you grow.
What do you think about the knowledge shared at the Microsoft Bloggers Meet Up? A good thing? Did you know all of this? Do you know more let’s learn together, share in the comments.
DigiGirlz is a Microsoft YouthSpark program which gives middle and high school girls opportunities to learn about careers in technology, connect with Microsoft employees, and participate in hands-on computer and technology workshops.
Microsoft Ghana partnered with Airtel Ghana through it’s Evolve with STEM initiative for the first Ghana edition of DigiGirlz day.
DigiGirlz day took place at the iSpace Hub in Labone and had about 60 girls participating in the program. The program brought in to mentor the girls, Lucy Quist; Managing Director of Airtel Ghana, Elizabeth Patterson; founder and director of Girls Education Initiative of Ghana, Anita Erskine; founder of Brand Woman Africa, a media entrepreneur, TV & Radio host, Anne Amuzu; co founder Nandi Mobile, Larissa Bowen-Dodoo; founder of Levers in Heels, Florence Toffa; Director of Mobile Web Ghana and founder of Fime Project and others.
These mentors shared inspiring personal stories that’ll bring belief, empower and challenge the young future leaders to go into the technology industry. There was also an Hour of Code session where participants were taught how to code in HTML. The break out sessions dealt with topics like Effective and safer internet usage, Scams and email messages, Why STEM is important,
Derek Appiah Microsoft country manager about the program said;
Microsoft is committed to encouraging more women to join the ICT industry and we are inviting Ghanaian high school girls to discover the opportunities that exist for them in our industry. We want to demystify any belief that STEM is for boys so as to ensure that they make the right education choices now for the bright future that they deserve
It’s been an exciting time spent with all the participants of DigiGirlz today. I am encouraged by their curiosity, passion and determination throughout the session.
Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) is an enabler for creativity and problem solving in young people which is why we launched the Evolve with STEM initiative to inspire belief, empower and transform mindsets of young people towards STEM.
We are proud to be associated with DigiGirlz, which aligns with Evolve with STEM. It is great to see organizations like Microsoft, a technology giant, support initiatives to empower young people through STEM
CodeHouse: Come learn how to code mobile apps using Xamarin tools in Visual Studio.
Microsoft Students Partners (MSP) and the School of Technology Students Association (SOTSA), of Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration(GIMPA) presents CodeHouse.
CodeHouse is a mobile application coding session, that seeks to teach you how to design and develop Windows, IOS and Android phone apps using Xamarin studio.
The training session takes place 3rd May 2016 at the AVU Lab, GIMPA, Accra from 2pm to 5pm.
For more information and direction contact 0576232897 or 0206600440.
Come along with your laptop, which should have Visual studio 2015 & Xamarin tools installed.
TECHNO BRAIN Ghana is partnering with MICROSOFT through it’s 4Afrika initiative program to organize Free Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Training for students in Ghana.
This a fully funded initiative by Microsoft Africa and facilitated by Techno Brain certified trainers to help students in building up skills careers in the area of CRM with certification.
The Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Academy focuses on building capacity for bridging the skill gaps in the CRM domain.
Under the Microsoft 4Afrika initiative, it has an exciting skilling and employment platform created for students to enroll into the CRM Academy program.
This is a great opportunity for students to gain the required skill set and increase their competitive edge to meet the challenges of the job market with no cost involved, as Microsoft will be sponsoring both training and examination.
This Academy has been hosted in partnership with Techno Brain in Kenya and Ghana.
To participate in the program, all you have to do is logon to the Techno Brian website www.crmacademy.technobraingroup.com and register/apply to participate in the free training programme.
You can register with any of these Microsoft account email addresses that ends with ( @hotmail.com, @outlook.com and @live.com)
Some benefits of participating in the program include:
1. Programme fully funded by Microsoft
2. Trained & Mentored by Certified Trainers from Microsoft
3. Leading to Global Certifications (Free Certificate by Microsoft)
4. Gain holistic skilling: ICT and Industrial Skills among others.
5. The BEST 25 Trainees will have the opportunity to work with Microsoft Partners.
If you need more information about the program, kindly call these numbers for assistance:
0276423336 and 0246902968.
Remember, it’s fully funded by Microsoft, so ITS FREE for all participants
If you are a student on any campus, give this a try this vacation period and tell us what you think.
