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.”
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Microsoft wants to accelerate the growth of startups in Africa and fast-track investment in Africa’s startup ecosystem. By providing support to 10,000 startups over the next five years to enable them grow. A new partnership with accelerators, tech hubs and incubators across Africa including Grindstone, Greenhouse, FlapMax and Seedstars will seek to provide startups with access to markets, technical skills, and funding opportunities.
Through the intiative, startups will get access to technology, skilling programs and an opportunity to co-sell with Microsoft. They will also get support from Microsoft engineering and product teams for co-innovation opportunities.
Microsoft believes the vibrant African startup market is well placed to become a cornerstone of the continent’s digital economy. However it represents less than one percent of total investments worldwide. Wael Elkabbany, Managing Director, Microsoft Africa Transformation Office, points out, this needs to change.
“Investments into Africa’s startup ecosystem are growing at an exciting pace. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), there are more than 640 active tech hubs across Africa, accelerating innovation and creating employment, particularly among the youth.”
Wael Elkabbany
Microsoft will also partner with key B2B-focused start-ups, scaleups, “soonicorns” and unicorns across a range of leading African industries. As well as startups concentrating on developing solutions for SMEs. Microsoft will tailor each partnership based on the needs of a startup says Gerald Maithya, Startups Lead, Microsoft Africa Transformation Office.
“We understand that each start-up is unique and exists beyond the limitations of a one-size-fits-all partnership model. Therefore Microsoft will tailor each partnership to the needs of individual start-ups, providing support and access. – Whether to technology, markets and co-sell opportunities, funding or digital skills. – To enable them to grow and contribute to the wider economic growth of Africa,”
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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.
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 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.
“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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Microsoft Africa Development Center is organizing a free virtual event as part of its ADC’s user group series themed Azure Developers Connect for Developers and Software Engineers in Africa scheduled to hold on the 24th of February, 2022. Time 3 PM GMT, 4 PM WAT, 5 PM SAT, 6 PM EAT.
The event which would be held virtually is targeted at Azure user groups & communities, developers, engineers, working professionals; Tech communities in West Africa and Kenya in a bid to expose them to the many capabilities of Azure for building next-gen apps and driving global transformation as a developer or software engineer in Africa.
Developers and software engineers would enjoy practical sessions with Top Azure experts, as well as get insights into existing cloud features, they never knew were in existence. Speakers at the event will include Scott Hunter (VP DIR Program Management, Azure Applications, Microsoft), Matt Soucoup (Senior Cloud Advocate, Microsoft), Donald Okafor (Principal Software Engineering Lead, Microsoft ADC), Kehinde Ladipo (Software engineer, Microsoft ADC).
Panel discussions will also feature Adora Nwodo (Software Engineer, Microsoft ADC), Olaitan Adeboye (Software Engineer, Microsoft ADC), Samuel Adranyi (Senior Software Engineer, Mekorma), Frank Odoom (Software Consultant, Accede) and other Microsoft ADC software Engineers.
Topics: – 5 career paths you can explore as an Azure Software Engineer, – How to become a software engineer at the Microsoft ADC, – Leveraging Azure for continuous deployment & integration.
Microsoft Azure is Microsoft’s public cloud computing platform that provides a wide range of cloud services such as computing, analytics, networking, and storage. Microsoft Azure helps developers and software engineers to develop new applications or even upscale existing applications with its various cloud services. The public cloud computing platform is flexible and open which makes it globally recognized to developers and software engineers due to its reliability.
The Azure developers connect event will also serve as a great way for developers and software engineers to network with other Azure professionals in the field.
Developers and Software Engineers in Africa can book their seat by registering with the link https://aka.ms/AzureDevelopersConnect to get in-depth knowledge about exploring the Microsoft Azure Platform and its existing features whilst they prepare to build next-gen apps that would drive global transformations.
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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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