Microsoft is on the look out for engineering talent from across Africa to staff the Africa Development Centre(ADC). The centre will be officially launched in an event tonight. Which we will bring you more details on, so bookmark this site and stay with us. Microsoft executives of the project like Phil Spencer, CVP Gaming visited the President of Kenya ahead of the launch.
The company says it is “seeking engineering talent from across the continent to fuel AI, machine learning and mixed reality innovation.”
Hiring Local Software Engineers
Microsoft has started hiring for various roles and positions in the African Development Center. It plans to recruit about 100 full-time software engineers by the end of 2019 across the two sites in Nigeria and Kenya. Expanding this number to 500 recruits across the two sites by the year 2023. The sites include the Cognition team to be based in Lagos and the Windows team in Nairobi.
Michael Fortin, Corporate Vice President at Microsoft shares what the ADC will mean to the software engineers. He said;
“Our desire is to recruit exceptional engineering talent across the continent that will build innovative solutions for global impact. This also creates opportunities for engineers to do meaningful work from their home countries. And be plugged into a global engineering and development organisation.”
Microsoft to work with Local Universities
Microsoft will partner with some of the local universities in Africa to build its talent pipeline. By creating what it calls “a modern intelligent edge and cloud curriculum“, it says this will be “totally unique to Africa”.
Microsoft also says Graduates will have access to the ADC. Building a relevant and meaningful career in data science, AI, mixed reality, application development and many more.
UPDATE: Microsoft launches Africa Development sites in Lagos and Nairobi.
Microsoft corporation marks yet another milestone of investments and operations in Africa. In an event later today the global technology company will announce its first Development Centre in Africa. Its seventh globally. The Africa Development Centre will have two initial sites set to be located in Nigeria and Kenya. The global technology giant says it will be a long term investment in the region.
Yesterday, top Microsoft executives paid a courtesy call on the President of Kenya. Where they shared details of the project with the president. The executives shared that Microsoft plans to invest a combined expected investment of US $100 million over the first five years of operation.
Microsoft says through the Africa Development Centre it intends to invest in more cutting-edge solutions suitable for the region and the rest of the world.
Stay with us as we bring you more details about the Africa Development Centre launch event in Nairobi. What are you thoughts on this, share them with us.
Microsoft delegation meets with President Kenyatta
Microsoft corporation executives have met with Kenyan President, Uhuru Kenyatta ahead of the scheduled Africa Development Centre launch event in Nairobi, Kenya. The visit was to formally inform the president of the scheduled launch project in Kenya.
Microsoft Country General Manager East and Southern Africa, Sebuh Haileleul led the executives who met the Kenyan president. They include Executive Vice President, Gaming at Microsoft, Phil Spencer, Corporate Vice President, Gaming Partnerships & Business Development, Sarah Bond and Corporate Vice President, Mike Fortin.
During the discussions with the president, Phil spencer shared that “the new development sites carry great potential for job creation, talent development and technology transfer among Africa’s youth. Especially in countries with good ICT literacy ratings such as Kenya.” The African Development Centre sites he said “will contribute to Microsoft’s interests across global businesses such as Office, Azure, Windows among others.”
President Uhuru Kenyatta on the other hand said “the new initiatives by Microsoft is in line with the government’s development agenda.” He also shared that he was “keen to ensure the country has a technologically empowered and capable youth ready for the global job market.”
Microsoft will officially launch the Africa Development Center in Nairobi, Kenya tomorrow and we will bring you more details.
Update: Microsoft announces Africa Development Center sites in Kenya and Nigeria
In a teaser post on Microsoft’s social pages, the company shared “Something great is coming to Nairobi, Kenya! and Something great is coming to Lagos, Nigeria!, Watch this space to learn more“. The big announcements are scheduled to be made on May 14th in Nairobi Kenya and the 17th in Lagos Nigeria.
Microsoft will give the Egypt startup technical and business support in new partnership.
Digital recruitment solutions company HireHunt announces partnership with Microsoft. The collaboration through Microsoft 4Afrika will see HireHunt recieve leads from Microsoft’s network. Microsoft will also provide them with technical and go-to market resources.
Sherif Aziz, Partners and Start-ups Lead, Microsoft 4Afrika said this about the collaboration.
“As we strive with our customers towards digital transformation, HireHunt makes that possible on a recruitment level. A clear example of how technology can enable companies to hunt for the best most suitable talents. Microsoft 4Afrika is very excited to partner with HireHunt where we will support them on both technical and business level.”
About the Startup
HireHunt is a digital recruitment solution startup based in Egypt bringing the right employers and talents together. Providing a talent platform where applicants showcase their skills, expertise and personalities through interactive job applications.
For employers the platform handles the time consuming tasks faster, so they can focus on filling positions with higher accuracy. With their mantra “Do less, hire faster”.
How HireHunt works.
“On HireHunt, applicants can show who they are and what they can do by answering interesting questions about themselves and their work experience to attract the attention of employers. Questions can be answered by text or recording voice. You can solve games to earn badges and get more visibility from positive interactions with employers. Every interaction gives them feedback about their capabilities. Helps them explore new career paths and discover their next opportunity at the same time. Employers now have access to a ‘swiss army knife of recruitment technology’ to help them hire the right people faster. Using Artificial Intelligence and interactive screening, high-growth companies can cut up to 80% of their hiring time by automating the dull parts of sourcing, screening and tracking so they can focus on what’s important. 82% of employers identify their next hire within 2 weeks using our sourcing campaigns powered by machine learning.”
In July 2018 Microsoft, Facebook and The Rockefeller Foundation partnered with the African Development Bank to announce Coding for Employment. An initiative seeking to bridge the digital skills divide among African youths.
To kick start the program and to celebrate women’s month Microsoft and the African Development Bank(AfDB) have started a month long all-female ICT and digital skills bootcamp on two campuses(Centres of Excellence) in Nigeria. Gombe State University and Covenant University located in Gombe and Ogun States respectively.
“The all-female cohort of the Coding for Employment Program is to increase the number of female coders, accelerate gender equality and empowerment for women and girls in the digital era“. The program “aspires that the all-female cohort will spark an interest in more girls and young women to pursue STEM. That’s encourage them to pursue realizations in STEM related fields“.
The ADB says “the programme acts as an entry point for young female participants who are keen to find jobs within the growing ICT sector. At the end of the course, participants may continue to a more advanced level or simply use their new skills to enhance their job searches.”
AfDB program Task Manager Coding For Employment, Uyoyo Edosio spoke at the launch of the pilot scheme at the Covenant University. She said “In the next 10 years, AfDB will be working at increasing ICT Centres of Excellence in the continent. Creating over 1.9 million jobs. We are building a whole value chain from this launch”
160 young women have ben selected to participate in the month-long all-female coding class in Nigeria.
The partnership between Microsoft and the African Development Bank will continue to focus on increasing the participation of underserved youth and women while equipping youth across Africa with the skills needed to fill jobs now and in the future,” – Ghada Khalifa, Director of Philanthropies for the Middle East and Africa
Under the program so far Microsoft and the AfDB have trained 555 participants in a 3 day Hour of Code campaign. Microsoft has also trained 80 instructors in Nigeria and 60 in Kenya to deliver the basic ICT skills material. The Afbd will be launching an aggregated online training and talent portal with content from LinkedIn Learning.
The coding for employment program, still on a pilot scheme will be rolled out at 14 centres of excellence across Nigeria, Kenya, Rwanda, Ivory Coast and Senegal.
