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.
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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Meta, the parent company of Facebook is highlighting key milestones achieved in their 2021 Africa Year in Review. The infographic shows some of Meta’s investments and initiatives across sub-Saharan Africa this year. They focused on driving innovation, connecting communities, helping businesses to grow and supporting the tech and creator ecosystem. Meta notes that it also reinforced its continued commitment to Africa through these projects.
The 2021 Africa year in review highlights includes the launch of Instagram lite, available in Swahili, Oromo and Amharic. The rolling out of Instagram awareness campaign in Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal. The rollout of Africa’s first paid online events in South Africa. Spotlighting of content creators in Nigeria and Ghana. Launch of Small Act, Big Impact initiative for community leaders in Kenya. Meta is set to officially launch Facebook Reels and Professional mode for creator profiles in EMEA next year.
Kezia Anim-Addo, Director for Communications, Sub-Saharan Africa, commented, saying: “This year we’ve witnessed an abundance of talent, growth and resilience from across Africa, despite the many challenges due to the ongoing COVID pandemic. It’s been inspiring to witness the development of various communities, from creators to SMBs and tech innovators.Many of whom are using Meta technologies to grow and develop their craft. We believe that Meta sits at the intersection of innovation, technology, entrepreneurship and social connection. We’re excited about the future of the continent, and Meta’s ongoing role in helping to unlock Africa’s potential.”
Some of the key 2021 Meta Africa Year in Review includes:
Facebook Marketplace: Rolled out Facebook Marketplace to 37 countries and territories across Sub-Saharan Africa. Enabling more people to discover, buy and sell items from others in their local communities.
Digital Literacy Trainings: Undertook digital literacy training, focused on online safety, privacy, news, media literacy and digital citizenship, across eight countries training over 65,000 people.
2Africa & 2Africa Pearl: Alongside eight local and global partners, announced the creation of new branches and a new segment of the subsea cable called ‘2Africa Pearls’. Which now connects three continents — Africa, Europe, and Asia. Making it the longest subsea cable system ever developed at more than 45,000 kilometres.
Economic Impact Trainings: Trained over 80,000 SMBs across 13 countries through our economic impact programmes, including Meta Boost (formerly Boost with Facebook) and SheMeansBusiness. Graduated 338 young people through the Digify Pro programme, with nearly 70% getting jobs.
Blood Donations feature: Now available across 12 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. Over 3.9m Facebook users in these countries signed up to receive blood donation notifications from local blood donation centers.
Instagram Lite: introduced Instagram Lite for Android and its availability in Swahili, Oromo and Amharic languages.
Made by Africa, Loved by the World: Celebrated Africa’s growing cultural impact on the world through a global campaign that showcased eight African creatives and businesses from Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire and Gabon.
2021 Facebook Community Accelerator Program: Announced the winners of the 2021 Facebook Community Accelerator Program, featuring 13 community leaders from Nigeria, South Africa, and Kenya, who will receive training, mentorship and up to $50,000 USD in funds to invest in their community.
Instagram Reel Ads in 25 African countries: Expanded Reels Ads to countries in Africa with the Reels feature on Instagram – enabling businesses on Instagram to reach greater audiences and allowing people to discover inspiring new content from brands and creators.
SMB WhatsApp Bot: Launched ‘Facebook Business Coach’ on WhatsApp, an innovative and easily accessible way for SMBs in English speaking Africa to learn more about how to grow their business on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.
Africa No Filter & Meta Virtual Reality Fund: Announced the opening of the grants and mentoring program “Future Africa: Telling Stories, Building Worlds” aimed at boosting the use of Virtual Reality in Africa’s storytelling and helping to shift negative stereotypes about the continent.
Click to view the full infographic on Meta’s investments and activities in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2021. (https://bit.ly/3IuSJCZ). Download Infographic: https://bit.ly/3EGCErg
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TECNO mobile is announcing its latest smartphones with three new devices in the Camon 18 series. The TECNO Camon 18 Premier, Camon 18P and Camon 18 with Camon 18i and Camon 18T being tweaked global variants.
TECNO is introducing an ultra-steady gimbal camera and 60X Hyper Zoom in the flagship Camon 18 Premier. Saying it is the most advanced pro-camera Camon phone yet. It brings its previous best features the super night and selfie camera modes to the new device as well. It is powered by the newest MediaTek Helio G96 Chipset and sports a 6.7″ 120Hz AMOLED display.
In terms of pricing, the Camon 18 series starts at about $160 – $400 covering all the smartphone ranges. We provide you with the country-specific device prices in the following markets; Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Pakistan and India.
The new TECNO Camon 18 series smartphones will be able to upgrade to HIOS’s Android 12 when it becomes available. Here are the full device specifications below. I’m also adding an unboxing video comparing the normal version to the premier version so you can see the differences.
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Microsoft is bringing The Garage program to Africa with sites to be located in Kenya and Nigeria. The company says The Garage Nigeria, in Lagos, is currently in advanced planning stages, as are other Garage locations in Africa. New information reaching us including the search for a Senior Program Manager to lead the program confirms it is close.
The Garage is an extracurricular Microsoft resource for employees to connect, experiment and be creative outside of their day job. But that is not all, it will also be a creative space for hacking and making for the local tech ecosystem and Microsoft customers. Running hackathons, engineering internships, and an experimental outlet for its local students and tech communities.
There are 12 garage sites across the globe with the Africa sites to increase this number to 14. Microsoft could yet still increase this number with possible sites in South Africa, Senegal and Egypt.
I expect each Microsoft Garage site in Africa to have three dedicated lab sections just like all the other global sites. The lab sections will consist of a collaboration hub for hackathons and workshops, a Makerspace and an Advanced Makerspace. The advanced Makerspace will have an electronic workbench, 3D Printers, laser cutter, PCB milling machine for creating prototypes. A Reality Room dedicated to working in the space of Augmented Reality (AR) Virtual Reality (VR), and Mixed Reality applications and dedicated space and equipment for doing work on Deep Learning.
Every person at Microsoft has the ability to come up with a good idea. The Garage is here to help.
Jeff Ramos, GM The Garage
The Microsoft Garage in Africa
“The Garage is a program designed to support our employees’ creative ambitions and innovative instincts,” says Jeff Ramos, general manager of The Garage. “Every person at Microsoft has the ability to come up with a good idea. The Garage is here to help our great people shape and develop those ideas. We need a place for people to feel confident to take creative liberties, and that place is The Garage.”
Ramos says Microsoft is going to learn how to do business better worldwide by learning in Africa. Noting that in Lagos, Microsoft sees a tremendous opportunity to learn as a company and as a culture.
For Gafar Lawal, principal group manager at Microsoft ADC Nigeria it will be essential to both tantalize and satisfy employees’ creative curiosities. Adding that the Garage will support employees as they continue to learn at every stage of their careers.
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itel is announcing its second laptop the itel Spirit 1 notebook laptop few months after introducing the Able 1 laptop. The company introduced the device at the online launch event of the itel S17 smartphone and other itel family products. Where it also introduced the itel Smart Watch1, itel Wireless Neckband, itel blender, standing fan, electric stove and itel Cinema TV Projector.
Officially, the company says the itel Spirit 1 laptop comes in a metal surface body design with a 15.6 inch full HD display. It is powered by a Core i3 Intel processor and intel plus 655 display card. The device will ship pre-installed with Microsoft’s new Windows 11 OS. With its 51 watts big battery, itel says one charge can give you about eight hours of usage time. Spirit 1 can be configured with up to 1 terabyte of hard disk space and 8 gigabytes of RAM. It comes with three USB ports, one HDMI, a micro SD card reader, an earphone jack, and an RJ-45 port.
It seems the Spirit 1 laptop is supposed to have more processing power and handle more work than the Able 1 laptop. But the Core i3 processor feels like it is still geared towards light office work, entertainment and studies than power users.
This is what the company says about the device.
Earlier this year we launched our first laptop Able 1, we have recieved so many feedbacks and felt your passion for more. So today we are bringing you the brand new itel Spirit 1. The first laptop in its prize range that comes with a three by two watts box speaker.
No official retail price or the availability date has been announced yet. It is suggested it could be in the $600 – $700, NGN 250,000, GHS 3,000, KES 65,000 price range. We will check and get you full specifications and update you on any changes necessary.
itel Spirit 1 device Specifications
itel didn’t mention specifics when it comes to the hardware architecture. We did a little digging around and believe this will be the specifications of the new device.
estimated price Nigeria NGN 250,000, Ghana GHS 3,000, Kenya KES 65,000, $600 – $700
What are your thoughts on the new itel laptop devices? Check out what’s new on our YouTube channel. Subscribe to follow for the latest videos in the ecosystem.
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