Press Release: Microsoft has appointed Ibrahim Youssry as Regional General Manager of Microsoft MEA Multi Country Cluster (MCC).
This new subsidiary spans the full African continent (except for South Africa and Egypt), the Indian Ocean Islands, as well as Levant and Pakistan.
Youssry brings over thirty years of professional experience and industry knowledge to the role. He joined Microsoft in 2007 in the server and tools business, which he managed across most of Africa and Levant. In 2008, he became the General Manager of Microsoft West Central Africa.
During his four-year tenure, he led growth across the region, overseeing every aspect of Microsoft’s business and being awarded the Microsoft global “General Manager of the Year” award in 2009. In 2011, Youssry moved to Microsoft France, leading an extensive government business covering ministries, social and administrative entities and large public-private accounts.
In November 2013, Youssry moved back to the MEA region and joined Microsoft Gulf as the Public Sector lead. Over the past four years, Youssry has made an enormous impact in the market supporting government and education organisations to accelerate their digital transformation agendas and growing the Microsoft public-sector business significantly.
Prior to joining Microsoft, Youssry spent many years working in multinational organisations across different sectors including Aramco, GUPCO and Schlumberger in the oil and gas industry, Gemalto and Orascom “Djezzy” in the Telco space.
Ibrahim Youssry holds a Bachelor of Science-Geophysics degree and a Masters in International Business Management.
Samer Abu-Ltaif, Area Vice President, Microsoft Middle East and Africa welcomed Youssry’s appointment and added, “The establishment of MCC under Ibrahim’s leadership, allows us to more closely align across growth markets to further deliver on our vision of digital transformation, while enabling partners. I look forward to working with Ibrahim and the MCC team, not only to drive our customer’s success but also to invest in digital skills building and youth upliftment.
Microsoft among partners sealing Africa youth digital skills gap
Microsoft has joined other partners in the Coding for Employment program – an initiative seeking to bridge the digital skills divide among the youth in Africa. Under the program by African Development Bank (ADB), the youth will be equipped with demand-driven Information and Communications Technology (ICT) skills that match demands of potential ICT employers. Other partners taking part in the initiative that was unveiled at the African Innovation Summit in Kigali, Rwanda include The Rockefeller Foundation and Facebook.
The ADB reckons the world is moving towards a fourth industrial revolution where demand for digitization across health, education and other sectors is set to rise. The Bank notes that digital innovations not only hold the key to solving the development challenges in Africa, but also the potential to generate new job opportunities.
“The youth population is rapidly growing and by 2050, is expected to double to over 830 million. Yet, the digital divide in Africa persists and critical skills gaps pose serious challenges to youth securing quality and decent work in a rapidly changing workforce,” says ADB
Coding for Employment program hopes to bridge digital skills divide
The Coding for Employment program targets to create over 9 million jobs and reach 32 million youth and women across Africa. The initiative is set for roll out in Senegal, Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya, and Rwanda which will see establishment of 130 centers of excellence. Partners under the Coding for Employment program have committed to help bridge the skills gap in order to accelerate development and maximize job creation among the youth.
Microsoft will provide locally relevant curricula that adapts to each country’s specific needs and context. The focus will be on providing basic to intermediate digital skills training, as well as soft and employability skills. In efforts to do this sustainably, Microsoft will identify partners capable of training university staff, as well as youth and community volunteers on digital skills in select universities and Centers of Excellence across the continent. The trainers will also be supported to become tech entrepreneurs who develop new locally-relevant products and services.
Microsoft’s Director of Philanthropies for the Middle East and Africa, Ghada Khalifa, says even though digital skills are essential for the jobs of today and tomorrow, they are beyond the reach of too many young Africans.
“Together with our partners like the African Development Bank, we are working to change that. 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,” she said.
Under the Coding for Employment initiative, Microsoft will register the graduates on a web portal for monitoring and evaluation, as well as an employment portal where they can be matched with relevant job openings. Graduates will receive certification following their successful completion of the curriculum.
Microsoft Bridging the Digital Skills Gap with 4Afrika initiatives
Over the past few years, Microsoft has played an active role in bridging the digital skill gap as is demonstrated with introduction of the 4Afrika initiative.
A key focus under the 4Afrika initiative is developing skilled workforces in the continent and investing in local technology solutions. Currently Microsoft says over the last three years through its Philanthropies Digital Skills program it has upskilled 2.6 million underserved youth in Africa. It has also generated over 50,000 employment and 2,680 internship opportunities, while enabling over 2,000 aspiring entrepreneurs to establish their own businesses. Thus touching the lives of over 8 million youths in Africa. On its skills bridging initiative across the continent, Microsoft currently has 16 AppFactories across Africa. Microsoft 4Afrika Academy dean, Lutz Ziob shared why it’s critical to bridge this gap.
Microsoft is offering you an internship opportunity to kick start your career and help you build some work experience in a thriving environment.
The Interns4Afrika skills initiative program offers young people an experience with a Microsoft partner in the region. You get to join these organizations in your home country and apply skills as well as pick up new skills on the job.
“Whether you’re aspiring for a future in sales, marketing or technology, this is your chance to kick-start your future.” – Microsoft 4Afrika
There are internship opportunities all across Africa from the initiative.
Current offers are opened in Kenya, South Africa, Egypt, Botswana, Mauritius, Cape Verde, Senegal, Nigeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Uganda? Click to apply for internships in Marketing, IT Technical Support or Sales Internship. Click to find out more information and apply.
With this offer you will work for 6 months with a Microsoft partner on real projects. You’ll collaborate and learn from your colleagues. Got more question to ask about the Interns4Afrika program, check out the FAQ’s
A few things you need to note to avoid being disqualified.
Your application will be disqualified if you fail to reveal or disclose truthful information.
Do not apply if you:
Are not a citizen of the specified country
Have not completed your degree
Are employed
Have not completed your National Service
Kindly click on the link which will take you to the Microsoft 4Afrika skills page. Sign up and fill away. All the best to you as you apply. If you do get in, come back and share the experience with us?
Microsoft hosts 45 Cloud Camp Contest Winners from Middle East and Africa in Mauritius
We shared details earlier this year on a Microsoft Cloud Society contest with an all expenses paid trip to Mauritius. Winners of the contest were selected and have participated in the first Microsoft Cloud Society camp held in Mauritius.
The camp was focused on helping train the selected IT professionals, developers and students from the Middle East and Africa region on disruptive technologies. Training them on Microsoft’s cloud technologies in everything AI, Cloud Infrastructure, IoT and how to transform data into intelligent actions. The contest was also a way to reward members of the Microsoft cloud society.
Highlights from the event.
Speaking to participants, Microsoft’s Intelligent Coud Technology officer, Marc Israel, said “we are here to talk about this innovation that has changed and is changing the world. We asked how could we raise the awareness and competencies of people around cloud technology”. The Microsoft Cloud Society program offers content of more than 100 courses and topics.
Kayode Damilola Sowole a contestant from Nigeria won a spot to the camp by taking the Azure Cloud Administration course. His aim for skilling up, as he shared was to be able to design, install, test and maintain software systems he develops. Kayode got selected to attend Microsoft Ignite later tis year in Orlando, Florida.
Microsoft partners with Techno Brain Limited to launch Africa’s first Software Testing Centre in Kenya
Microsoft’s partnership with Techno Brain Limited will bring it’s software testing and quality assurance centre to Africa. This means Techno Brian engineers will get early access to the latest Windows operating system builds. They’ll perform complex tests for various applications before it becomes available for public preview.
The Microsoft software testing center, a first of it’s kind in Africa will be located in Nairobi, Kenya. Making it the fourth outsourced Microsoft testing centre, with others based in India, China and Poland.
“This testing centre will help to profile Kenya as a leading regional hub of emerging technologies and innovation. Said Microsoft Director of Software Engineering, Bambo Sofola at the launch event. It’ll provide employment opportunities for young people as well.
Kenya is said to be Africa’s ultimate technology hub of the future and it is rapidly growing in that area. Microsoft is here to support and enable Kenya and Kenyan’s to excel and achieve that purpose. The inauguration is more than job creation.
It is a lot more that includes how we train, share talent and how we transfer knowledge to the young engineers in Kenya.
These engineers will continue to learn and be on a level across the globe on how you do technology, testing and write software, to help fill the talent growth in Kenya.
Techno Brain Limited hosts Africa’s first Software Testing Centre
The Microsoft Windows engineering team worked collaboratively with the Techno Brain team to set up a highly specialized and secured test environment. Techno Brain Nairobi software testing centre will get exclusive access to Windows Insider software builds that are yet to be released in the global market.
Manoj Shanker, CEO of Techno Brain Ltd said; “Kenya in particular, has a rich pool of skilled human resources. This Testing Centre is another great testament that we’re truly committed to empowering lives through education and innovation”.
It is interesting to see Microsoft invest more in Africa as we look forward to it’s first datacenters in Africa.
Microsoft 4Afrika Academy dean, Lutz Ziob talks about the Microsoft AppFactory Program.
Lutz Ziob speaks to the media
The idea of the Microsoft 4Afrika AppFactory is to bridge the gap of Africans who understand and use modern technologies and platforms. Making them highly employable with modern developer and digital skills in this era of digital transformation.
Microsoft started with two Microsoft development centers for developers in Africa, in south Africa and Egypt back in 2013. The program currently has 16 AppFactory academies across Africa, located in Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, Egypt, Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, Mauritius, Malawi and Ethiopia. [Update: current count is 19. New academies in Botswana and Pakistan.
Through the AppFactory, Microsoft 4Afrika is empowering Africa’s young developers with high-level ICT skills in various industries.
Working with partners across Africa we share what we’ve learned in creating a franchise program in training modern developers. We help them train modern developers who become experienced software engineers. Thereby bridging the huge demand of Africans who understand modern technologies and modern development, cloud computing, secure coding, bots and data analytics.
https://youtu.be/y0d7tETzwLc
There’s a lot of open jobs for people with modern developer skills. And despite having computer graduates they can’t fill the jobs. So we created a program to train modern developers.
– Lutz Ziob (Dean, Microsoft 4Afrika Academy)
Doing what Educational Institutions are failing at
Companies out there today need a whole range of digital skills. In the space of creating software and solutions you have to have developer skills. The educational systems today are very challenged to understand modern employment needs and demands. The quickly moving industry is also typically overwhelming the institutions. I wouldn’t say the educational systems are failing. But they maybe failing graduates today to be employable and a future with the skills they deserve.
What we do with the AppFactory is make them understand the latest tools and platforms like Microsoft Azure. Students learn to build digital solutions in business, finance, healthcare, education, agriculture, tourism and transportation.
We also teach them how to work in a real work environment and soft skills that aren’t being taught. Like Learning how to work collaboratively in a modern environment. How to work in the dynamic of a team, who takes the lead, what it means to stay in a budget, how to engage with a customer, etc.
Excited about what Microsoft is doing with the AppFactory program? Let’s hear from you.
