Three teams have emerged winners of the Microsoft South Africa safe@home hackathon. Winning a prize pool of eight thousand US Dollars.
Six teams made it to the final qualifying round of the hackathon competition. With three teams Combat against GBV, iWitness and Report Matters going on to win it. Coming in first, second and third places and winning $5000, $2000 and $1000 respectively.
Microsoft sponsored the Safe@home hackathon to discover technology-based solutions that can address gender-based violence. An issue that saw a dramatic rise during the mandatory quarantine period of covid-19 in South Africa.
Winning Team, Combat against GBV presented an educational and interactive solution made to educate women and children on GBV. Using services such as a Twitter bot, USSD, WhatsApp chatbot and Facebook messenger. The solution also informs people on how to take action, find and ask for help. Members of Team Combat against GBV include; Naomi Bisimwa, Christine Bisimwa, Carol Khose and Mosa Nkomo.
The winning solution will be developed into a full application to be owned and used by the campaign’s NGO partners 1000 Women and TEARS Foundation.
We have seen a wealth of creative and sustainable ideas from our developer teams who have grappled with the unique issues and challenges surrounding gender-based violence in South Africa, says Lillian Barnard, Managing Director of Microsoft South Africa. The winning solution would effectively be able to help South Africa’s most vulnerable and at-risk.
Watch the six finalist teams present their ideas at the finals.
Microsoft Surface Go 2 is now available to businesses and consumers in the South African market. The device will retail at R8,999 and sold by Incredible Connection stores and Vodacom.
The device comes with a larger 10.5-inch display, improved battery life and a model with up to 64% faster performance.
Click to read about the technical specifications of the Surface Go 2 announced in May this year.
We’re excited to expand our Surface family with the addition of Surface Go 2 – our smallest and lightest two-in-one laptop says, Vithesh Reddy, Consumer and Channel Marketing Director at Microsoft South Africa. Its compact design and the versatility of a touchscreen and keyboard will appeal to businesses, schools, students and families, he continues.
He also adds that “Sharing Surface Go 2 with your family is seamless and secure. With parent-managed screen time limits, spending control and content filtering. Plus plenty of space for your photos, videos and music,” says Reddy.
The Surface Go 2 will start selling from the 22nd of October in South Africa.
Amrote Abdella, Regional Director Microsoft 4Afrika, believes cutting-edge technology such as data-driven agriculture can solve the challenge of food security in Africa. Find out more on why she believes this through partner activities and programs across Africa.
One of most the prominent challenges facing Africa is providing food security for its citizens. While many farmers still rely on traditional techniques to coax a living from the land, there are opportunities to use cutting-edge technology to drive Africa towards a food-secure future.
2 billion – no access to safe, nutritious and sufficient food
The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) reports that over 2 billion people do not have access to safe, nutritious and sufficient food. A steady increase in hunger since 2014 together with rising obesity, clearly indicates the need to accelerate and scale up actions to strengthen food systems and protect people’s livelihoods. It seems only fitting then, that in 2020, the theme for World Food Day is ‘Our Actions are Our Future’. Accelerating innovation in agri-tech will enable data-driven farming that can optimise yields, boost farm productivity and increase profitability – all while feeding a nation.
AI – Cutting-edge technology
AI in agriculture uses cutting-edge data, advanced analytics and machine learning to bring centuries-old farming knowledge into the modern age, giving farmers the tools to optimise crop yields and mitigate the effects of climate change through tools like smart irrigation. With agriculture sustaining 70% of Africa’s livelihoods, Microsoft is committed to ensuring that all farming communities are equipped with the latest tools including AI, IoT and edge computing to improve productivity and sustainability across the sector, leveraging our extensive partnerships and initiatives network in the process.
AI as an Enabler
There have been references in the recent past of AI replacing people in jobs, but what happens when AI and IoT devices enable people to spend less time on menial manual labour and more time boosting productivity and crop yields? AI and cloud technology can be used to monitor soil, climate changes and more to make better decisions on when, where, and how much to plant on farms. Precision farming, brought about by the adoption of advanced technologies into the agricultural sector, will revolutionise food production.
Kenya
In Kenya, SunCulture helps farmers improve their crop yields through solar-powered irrigation systems. Using IoT technology, SunCulture customers are generating 10x more annual income, experiencing a 300% increase in crop yields, and saving 17 hours of manually moving water per week. And by leveraging TV white spaces (TVWS) technology that expands high-speed internet access to underserved areas, SunCulture is bringing precision farming to more smallholder farmers.
Nigeria
The Nigeria Incentive-based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) recently entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with Microsoft to collaborate in helping Nigerian farmers become more productive, reduce costs, practice sustainable agriculture and achieve better agricultural outcomes through the deployment of the FarmBeats platform, which harnesses sensors, drones and cameras for seamless data collection, helping farmers improve crop yields as well as increase income. As many as 8 million farmers and 4 million hectares will be positively affected.
Particularly for smallholder farmers, it’s a challenge to get reliable weather and market information in real-time that can help with agricultural decision-making. But almost every farmer has a phone in their back pocket.
Democratizing access to information
A mobile platform has recently been built by a team of Microsoft developers to democratise access to information using a feature or a smartphone. Farmers can access information on pest and soil diagnosis, market prices, agricultural news, success stories from neighbouring farmers, weather, soil testing and personalised recommendations for maximising yields based on their soil tests, with an intended initial impact of 100 000 farmers.
Agri-tech social entrepreneurs
Other agri-tech social entrepreneurs are effecting real changes for farmers and their supply chains. Twiga Foods is a mobile-based business-to-business food supply platform that links smallholder farmers in rural Kenya to informal retail vendors in cities. N-Frnds brings the power of digital via mobile to subsistence and smallholder farmers in Africa and other emerging markets and has nurtured a community of farmers who can communicate with each other without the need for an internet connection or mobile data. It also provides access to financial services for market segments that are traditionally underserved by formal banking and insurance.
Microsoft believes in increasing access to agricultural knowledge through collaboration. It takes an entire ecosystem to initiate change, and that includes companies, government departments and agencies, and a network of startups and entrepreneurs, all with a common goal of solving food insecurity.
Microsoft, through the 4Afrika initiative, has collaborated with the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) to co-create technology solutions in Africa as it works to improve food security for 30 million farming households across 11 countries by 2021. The partnership stands alongside investments such as our support of the World Bank’s 1 Million Farmers Platform, which aims to bring one million farmers onto a digital platform over the next three years.
Driving impact in agriculture across Africa
We are also working with ministries across Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and Egypt to drive impact in agriculture. In Egypt, in partnership with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and the Ministry of Agriculture, the engagement includes intelligent crop detection and water demand forecasting. Key focus being on a successful farmer engagement to promote good agricultural practices, secure data sharing between agricultural entities, and connected farms that enable data collection through agricultural IoT sensors.
Additionally, in South Africa, Microsoft commissioned Research ICT Africa, in partnership with the University of Pretoria, to help identify opportunities within the industry to make farming more efficient and cost-effective, and highlight key regulatory and policy issues to address.
Across the continent, from South Africa to Kenya, Ghana, Egypt and beyond, we are working hard to enable agri-tech through various channels and partnerships. Technology has the potential to change the face of farming, using smart tools and platforms for precision farming, predicting weather patterns, and maximising the use of scarce water resources.
By harnessing cutting-edge technology in agriculture, we can help solve the pressing issues around food security to meet the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal #2 of Zero Hunger and enhance economic development in the process.
The virtual competition opens to teams or startups in 21 African countries. Eligible African countries include; Algeria, Angola, Cameroon, Chad, Comoros, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ghana, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritania, Namibia, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, The Gambia, Nigeria, Togo and Uganda.
African App Launchpad Cup 2020 focuses on two competition tracks in Game development and App. development.
Teams or startups working on game development, Virtual Reality or Augmented Reality can participate in the game development track. Whilst the app. development tracks is for those working on specific app development irrespective of the tech used.
Registration and Submission of projects begins October 15th to 22nd November. With the finalist list being announced on the 30th of November 2020.
Interested persons can apply as a team of not less than two members or as a startup not older than two years. Another requirement is that you must have a working Prototype.
Game or app. ideas will be judged on team competencies, innovation, originality and creativity, business model, art and design.
First three winners in each track will win USD 12K, 8K, 4K respectively. In addition twenty four other finalist teams or startups will get USD 1K.
Microsoft is sponsoring a go to market program for the first place winners of each track. As well as a VC introduction from Microsoft Network across Africa.
Click to read and find out more about the competition.
What is the Software engineer recruitment process for the Microsoft Africa Development Center like? James Ndiga Microsoft technical recruiter Europe Middle East and Africa talks about the process during this digital meetup.
Firstly, Microsoft advertises the software engineering or any other role on the career website. You put in the application.
If selected, Microsoft will send you a technical assessment using Codility. The technical assessment will have three questions in easy, medium and hard levels.
After you’ve submitted your work, a team of engineers will check and review it based on the standards set for that specific assessment or role.
When you pass the technical assessment level, you are invited for a recruiter screening. Here the recruiter checks for non technical focus areas. Other areas include cultural and other competencies that relate to Microsoft and the role.
The next stage involves four interviews in the space of four long hours. Held back to back and lasts for forty-five minutes each with fifteen-minute breaks.
Successful software engineer applicants go on to get an offer at this point.
However, unsuccessful applicants receive feedback on areas they need to level up on in preparation for future opportunities within Microsoft. They are given about six months to do this and then reapply.
For successful candidates who accept the offer, the next stage of the software engineer recruitment process is a background check. This will usually take at least 15 working days.
When the background check is completed and successful, the recruiter discuses your starting date with your hiring manager. It is at this point that you can send in your resignation with your current organization. If you are a freelancer or unemployed and available you can join immediately.
This is is how the recruitment process for most software engineering roles at Microsoft looks like.
James shares there are career opportunities in various roles such as Program Manager, Research Scientist, UX designers, software engineers and many more.
Microsoft also has full time opportunities for recent university graduates or students graduating in the next year. Check them out.
Jack Dorsey, Twitter CEO, Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO of Square, Inc. will be the closing keynote speaker at this years’ Africa Fintech Summit 2020.
The virtual summit will take place from the 9th to the 12th of November 2020. With Jack speaking on the 12th. His closing keynote will revolve around the concepts of decentralized finance and opportunities it creates for financial inclusion.
The three-day event will foster discussions on the fintech ecosystems across the continent. It will also look at fintech enabled businesses and the business of fintech across the region.
Jack’s Square Inc. introduced a suite of innovative tools and services that supports financial inclusion and the growth of businesses. With the company announcing recently it would become one of the first publicly traded U.S. companies to hold Bitcoin on its balance sheet.
Africa Fintech Summit 2020 will host the regional finals of Pegasus Tech Ventures’ Startup World Cup global pitch competition. With the winner getting a chance to compete for US$1M at the global semi-finals in Silicon Valley in May 2021.
