Future Ni Digital, an initiative to equip over 50,000 owners of Micro Small Enterprises (MSEs) with relevant digital skills by the end of this year kicks off in Nairobi. With plans to be expanded to multiple counties across the country. The initiative launched earlier this year also plans to put two thousand Kenya youth in jobs by the end of 2021.
Key partners of the Future Ni Digital initiative include the Ministry of Industrialization, Trade and Enterprise Development (MoITED), the Micro and Small Enterprise Authority (MSEA), Stanbic Kenya Foundation, Microsoft Philanthropies and the African Center for Women, Information and Communications Technology (ACWICT).
Speaking at the Kariobangi Center of Excellence during the start of the training, the Chief Administrative Secretary at the Ministry of Industrialization, Trade and Enterprise Development, Mr. Lawrence Karanja applauded the partners for supporting the government in its efforts to promote digital technologies and ICT. As a way of creating employment opportunities and improving on public service delivery.
Speaking during the event, the CEO of MSEA, Mr. Henry Rithaa said, “Our mission is to create an environment that makes our MSE sector globally competitive, and we are honoured to partner with such noble stakeholders who are appreciative and aligned to meeting this National goal. Continuous skill improvement is key for survival in today’s dynamic market environment, that is why we have come together to address the knowledge and skill gaps in digital literacy that will benefit 50,000 MSEs. This partnership is timely and oriented to the Authority’s strategic direction of focusing key service delivery functions on digitization and innovation to better serve the MSE sector.’’
The Future Ni Digital initiative will offer online digital entrepreneurial skills to assist these MSEs to expand and grow their businesses in the ever-changing digital market. As part of this, 192 trainers have already undergone the requisite training in a bid to kick off the mass training of the entrepreneurs. Stanbic Kenya Foundation and Microsoft Kenya have also deployed an online learning platform to enable learners to access content and further develop their skills.
The trainers are drawn from the Micro and Small Enterprise Authority (MSEA), the Kenya Industrial Business Training, Uasin Gishu and Nakuru counties as well as County Industrial Development Officers from around the country. In total, over 1,000 trainers from different government agencies will be trained to become instructors who will then engage with the various MSE’s and upskill them on how to leverage on online and digital platforms to grow their businesses.
The Stanbic Kenya Foundation donated ten laptop computers to the MSEA Training Center at Kariobangi and are set to donate a total of 400 computers to the other training centers across the country.
Speaking on behalf of the bank, Stanbic Bank Kenya CE, Charles Mudiwa noted, “As a bank, we seek to elevate businesses and individuals and empower them to achieve their dreams. Many enterprises in the country are still struggling to recover from the effects of the global pandemic, and we have seen that having digital skills is key to survival. Building the capacity of Kenyan citizens by providing access to resources and knowledge is in line with our objectives as part of our non-financial support.”
Microsoft Country Manager for Kenya, Kendi Ntwiga said the organization’s involvement in the initiative stems from its mission to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.
“Microsoft has operated in Africa for close to 30 years. In that time, we’ve built strong partnerships across the continent, helped bridge gaps in infrastructure, connectivity, capability, and we are working to assist the continent to digitally transform while creating sustained societal impact,” Kendi said. “It also represents our desire to support the Kenyan talent create innovative solutions for local and global impact while also addressing the existing gap in some of the required digital skills for the new age.”
ACWICT, the implementing partners of the digital program, developed the curriculum for the trainings and are currently rolling out the training sessions with the MSEA members.
Speaking on behalf of the implementing partners, ACWICT Executive Director, Constantine Obuya said, “the goal of this program is to accelerate skilling and employment prospects for 50,000 underserved, out of school youth in Kenya to ensure an inclusive economic recovery post COVID-19 pandemic. The project responds to the challenge of high youth unemployment in Kenya, which has further been compounded by the outbreak of the pandemic. The impact we hope to achieve is a skilled, resilient, and thriving youth effectively optimizing digital opportunities for improved livelihoods”.
MSE’s contribution significantly to economic growth of the country, yet a number of them are still struggling to survive. The digital skilling program aims to address this gap by providing individuals with access to and knowledge of innovate tools for their sustainable development and equal opportunities.
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Four computer science final year students of United States International University – Africa (USIS), Kenya, are the winners of the 2021 Microsoft Imagine Cup World Championship. The team wins the competition trophy, USD 125000 and a mentoring session with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.
Named Team REWEBA, they become the first student team from Africa to lift the prestigious Microsoft Imagine Cup World Championship trophy in its 19-year history. The student team beat three other finalist teams from New Zealand, the United States and Thailand to win the competition.
Their journey began by beating ten thousands of students entries from 163 countries to qualify for the online semifinals round. They then progressed as part of 40 teams to qualify for round one of the World Finals stage. Where two other student teams from Kenya; Cafrilearn and INTELLIVOLT qualified to compete. At the world finals stage, Team REWBA emerged winners of the healthcare category. Advancing to the World Championship which took place during Microsoft Build 2021.
The students showcased an IoT-based early warning system for babies using technologies such as Machine Learning, IoT, Analytics, etc. Their innovation, Remote Well Baby (REWEBA), remotely monitors infant parameters during regular post-natal screening. It then sends measurements to doctors remotely, allowing for immediate interventions saving infants from fatal diseases and reducing infant mortality rates.
The Kenya students; Khushi Gupta, Jeet Gohil, Dharmik Karania and Abdihamid Ali, win USD 75,000 cash, USD 50,000 Microsoft Azure grant and will get a mentoring session with Satya Nadella.
The students are planning to enhance and scale their project. They will also launch a startup in Kenya that provides better access to healthcare especially to those in marginalized areas.
Watch the World Championship below.
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After weeks of gruelling teamwork, Microsoft announces team Bloom as winners of the second season of its Africa Development Center (ADC) Game of Learners Virtual Hackathon. Team kaizen came in second place and Team Tulearn came in third to complete the winning three teams.
Season 2 of the Microsoft ADC Game of Learners virtual hackathon competition involved 60 undergraduate students from Nigeria and Kenya. With the teams taking on the challenge of solving the education accessibility problems in Africa using technology. The 12 teams had a diversity and gender balance of 30 females and males.
Team Bloom led by Bethany Jepchumba from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, designed the winning solution Bloom-Learn.
The solution features a digital platform with capabilities to link students and teachers across Africa. Teachers are able to upload classes, create one-on-one sessions with students, as well as communicate with students on each course via a chat forum. Students can use a booking session to connect with teachers. Bloom-Learn is built with Microsoft’s Azure App Service, Power platform and Microsoft 365.
The other Team Bloom members include Joy Kathure (Dedan Kimathi University, Kenya), Festus Idowu (Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria), Fortune Adekogbe (University of Lagos, Nigeria) and Afandi Indiatsi (Strathmore University, Kenya).
Jack Ngare, Microsoft ADC Kenya Managing Director, notes that Microsoft is committed to supporting these young innovators to develop some of their ideas into viable solutions.
Team Bloom gets the winning trophy and each member will receive a smartphone. They also get one-year Azure credits and one year LinkedIn Learning vouchers. Azure Developer exam voucher, digital certificate, digital badge, a swag bag, and one-on-one mentorship from preferred professionals for winning.
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Microsoft is announcing it has helped over 30 million people in 249 countries and territories acquire digital skills. Out of this, over one million learners across Africa participated in the Microsoft Global Skills program.
The global skills initiative offers free online courses across Microsoft, LinkedIn, and GitHub learning platforms. It seeks to help people, mostly those affected by the pandemic gain in-demand skills to be employable.
Across the Middle East and Africa region, 2.1 million learners have participated in the program. With software development, customer service, project manager and data analysis being the popular learning paths among learners.
The top 10 countries with learners across Africa are South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt, Morocco, Kenya, Tunisia, Algeria, Ghana, Senegal and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Comoros, Sao tome and Principe, Eritrea, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Seychelles and the Central African Republic are countries with less than 500 learners.
To get more Africans to acquire digital skills, Microsoft is also partnering with organizations and governments. Offering additional funding and services to make this possible where this is necessary.
Microsoft is extending the free LinkedIn Learning and Microsoft Learn courses and low-cost certifications that align to 10 of the most in-demand jobs offer through 2021.
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Kendi Nderitu, Microsoft Country Manager for Kenya says “My ambition is to collaborate with the public and private sector to help adopt and accelerate Kenya’s digital transformation agenda”.
Kendi Ntwiga-Nderitu shared this ambition speaking to Nation Africa in an interview on her career journey. She notes her career journey’s ups and downs have been rewarding.
The interview touches on her life, childhood, family life, education, career and current role at Microsoft Kenya. It also talks about lessons and advice to the youth in Kenya. Below are some excerpts. Click the link to read the full interview.
Kendi talks about growing up in Embu county before moving upcountry. She studied computer science then decided to pursue International Business Management as she wanted to lead a business in the tech industry.
She also advises girls to “Show up as a person first and deliver at that level“.
I have failed many times, but more importantly, this has taught me to have an open mind and to be agile enough to promptly re-group if plan A does not work.
Kendi Nderitu
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The initiative will will focus on training women and girls in software development, product design, product management, data science and AI engineering, and cybersecurity.
The Women Techsters initiative is opened to girls and women aged 16 to 40 years in the 54 African Countries. However, the program is launching in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Egypt and South Africa. With plans to scale the initiative to girls and women in more African countries later.
The training will be delivered through a series of simultaneous activities such as; bootcamps, open days, masterclasses and fellowships.
Microsoft says the program has been developed in such a way that participants will not only learn and develop deep technical skills. But they can fill knowledge gaps, learn coding skills and jumpstart their careers.
Prior to the launch, Microsoft piloted the initiative with Tech4dev in Nigeria called the Nigeria Women Techsters. Fatima Ahmed a participant in the Tech4Dev Nigerian Women Techsters program says; I thought I was just coming to learn new skills and go back to apply for jobs. But during the training, I started getting job opportunities. Today, I work as a technical support engineer at Tek Experts, where I provide cloud-based solutions. I am glad I took a bold step to come for the Nigerian Women Techsters training.Read more about her experience and what to expect here.
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