by Sylvester Addo | Jan 8, 2018 | General, Microsoft Africa
We look back at a busy past year and share on some of the exciting things by Microsoft in Africa.
From new AppFactory hubs to grant awards, Microsoft continues to show its believe and commitment in the continent. The believe that the African continent will be a game changer in the global economy. In the potential of technology to change Africa and the believe in the potential of Africa to change technology for the world. So how is this happening? By empowering African youths, entrepreneurs, developers, business and civic leaders. Microsoft believes with the support they receive, they’ll turn great ideas into a reality that can help their community, their country, the continent and even beyond Africa.
We point out some of the highlights of Microsoft in Africa over the past year
A maiden event by Africans at Microsoft, leading the conversation on what it means for technology to be innately African. Bringing together technology leaders, innovators and policy makers to exchange ideas pertaining to Africa. It was more of what Microsoft can learn from Africa, creating tools that will be useful to a creator in Africa. A learning curve started by the arrival of Satya Nadella and the Insiders4Good Fellowship in Nigeria. Hopefully we can look forward to another event this year.
It’s been four year since Microsoft decided to renew its vows and commitment to Africa. Yeah that happened lol, and they had a baby too called 4Afrika. The initiative founded on the idea that technology can accelerate growth for Africa and Africa can also accelerate technology for the world. Through Affordable Access Initiative seed grants, AppFactory Academies, providing Skills, Access and Innovation through partner organizations across the continent. Microsoft celebrated the fourth year sharing on some of the successes it has chalked on the way. Read more about the success here.
Microsoft expanded its Azure cloud regions to 40 and two datacenters will be built in Africa. A first by any of the cloud giants. With the new datacenters Microsoft says it will deliver cloud services to power innovation and opportunity for Africa and the world.
Microsoft launched the Insiders4Good initiative, a program designed to help Windows Insiders tackle important issues in their local communities. First cohort was launched in Nigeria and second for the East Africa Community. About 40 ideas were nurtured and groomed to become businesses. Microsoft Windows Insider Chief, Dona Sakar talked about the learning curve that was for them. How they had to build a 2G network back at the Microsoft campus to test builds because of the experiences from Nigeria.
Have there been other initiatives by Microsoft in Africa that you are excited about? Share with us in the comments and forums.
by Sylvester Addo | Dec 13, 2017 | app, Editor Picks, General, Microsoft Africa, Microsoft Kenya
In this era of Digital Transformation, Microsoft introduces Kaizala, a mobile application that enhance business agility, collaboration and organizational productivity to Kenya businesses and organizations
Kaizala enables businesses and organizations of any size to communicate with and manage workforces in a structured and secure way. It is designed for large group communication, work management, reporting and analytics and integrated with Office 365.
Businesses can connect with their entire value chain and run actions including: broadcasting announcements; sharing documents; assigning tasks and check-lists; hosting polls or surveys; sharing training content remotely; submitting expenses; marking attendance and tracking staff in the field.
The mobile application officially launched in Kenya can be used on Windows devices, Android and iOS phones. The app is built with the mobile first culture of emerging markets in mind. It is also optimized to work on any network. Kenya becomes the first African country to launch and use Kaizala. Previous markets such as India and the Philippines are the only others using it.
Microsoft Country General Manager for East and Southern Africa, Sebuh Haileleul, during the event said;
Today we are excited to announce the availability of Microsoft Kaizala in Kenya.
Kaizala is a mobile app designed to improve the way your business communicates, collaborates and manages workflows, using a simple chat interface.
The app addresses several challenges faced by most businesses in Africa who manage field staff remotely. Task workers working on construction sites or in manufacturing plants, retail shops and other industries, typically don’t have a dedicated work space, computer or even email address.
As a result, they generally use pen and paper or unsecure consumer-messaging apps on their personal phones for work-related communications. This makes it hard for managers to share and collect important information. Kaizala makes it easier and less time consuming for organizations to communicate, assign and track work in real-time and create reports based on aggregated data.
Kaizala in Africa
The application was piloted earlier this year by some organizations in Kenya prior to its official launch. Organizations such as Unilever, M-KOPA Solar, Mawingu Networks and Well Told Story all piloted the app. Microsoft says with 1,000 fulltime staff and 1,500 sales agents in the field, M-KOPA Solar have used Kaizala to collect real-time sales data and location information. This has cut down their data compilation from a 6 to 8 hour job, to one that takes under a minute.
Well Told Story, another organization the trialed the app is using Kaizala as a research tool. Putting it into the hands of their youth network to run surveys and interviews on their behalf. This empowers the youth with jobs and income, while also giving Well Told Story the rich insights that fuel their youth media business.
“As we launch Microsoft Kaizala in Kenya, we hope to help connect the complete value chain, including even the unconnected parts of organizations – from small businesses to large enterprises and governments who wants to connect with their citizens.
Microsoft Kaizala’s vision is to empower every organization and community to achieve more through purposeful chat,” – Rajiv Kumar, Corporate Vice President, Office Product Group, Microsoft.
Using Kaizala
Microsoft says unlike other chat-based apps in the market, Kaizala extends beyond a communication function. It enhances business agility, collaboration and organisational productivity. Some of its unique features include the ability to:
- Communicate with and manage an unlimited number of users, including employees, front-line workers, customers, suppliers and citizens. Organisations can create flat, hierarchical or discoverable public groups in minutes from contact lists, organisation directories or adhoc sharing. For users in remote areas, the app is optimised to work even on slow 2G networks. Users do not need an email address to sign up, only a mobile number.
- Broadcast and collect information in a structured way through action cards. This includes sharing announcements, photos, videos or documents; hosting polls or surveys; assigning tasks; providing training content; marking geo-fenced attendance; and tracking workforces using hyperlocal location tracking.
- Gather rich insights from data with built-in analytics. Organisations can view results in real-time as they come in, organise large amounts of information with an aggregated view of user responses, and get reports at each level of the organisation.
- Have full ownership and control over the data, insights and information. Managers can decide who has access to company data, which is all protected by encryption in-transit and at-rest. All Kaizala data is stored in Microsoft Azure datacenters, which adhere to industry standard security and compliance certifications.
Is Kaizala available in other African Countries?
“Microsoft Kaizala’s vision
is to empower every organization and community
to achieve more through purposeful chat”
Although the app is available for download through most app stores, Kenya is the first African country to benefit from an official launch and roll-out. Kenya was chosen due to having one of the highest mobile penetration rates in sub-Saharan Africa. The pilot also received a lot of interest and positive feedback from local organizations, which is why the team decided to officially launch the service to all local businesses.
Kaizala will be rolled out to other countries in a phased manner. However, there are no confirmations on additional African countries at this stage. Anyone can download the app but the premium paid version is only available in Kenya. This version is about $2 USD per month. The premium version offers added functionalities and dashboards.
To use the app, download Kaizala through your device app store. You can also email KaizalaDev@microsoft.com to get a preview (after NDA and Terms & Conditions) of the developer SDK to build your own extensions to Microsoft Kaizala.
Excited about the Application? Have you had the chance to use the app? Share your thoughts with us.
by Sylvester Addo | Dec 11, 2017 | General, Microsoft Ghana, Office
Microsoft is supporting educators with the power of technology to deliver quality education. Microsoft education partners hold Digital Transformation in Education Workshop in Accra, Ghana
Microsoft held a digital transformation in education workshop in Accra, to introduce its technology tools for education. Organizations and institutions from the government, public and private sectors were introduced to Microsoft’s 365 Education solution. It empowers institutions to unlock creativity and promote teamwork within and outside the classroom. Microsoft 365 Education combines the essentials of the Windows 10 platform, Office 365 for productivity and collaboration and the Enterprise Mobility Suite for security and management. It provides all these within a simplified licensing framework, simple and safe experience in a single and affordable solution.
The informative session put together by Zepto Ghana Limited and Point of View Afrique, Microsoft Education partners for Ghana showed educators of all levels how they can leverage technology in these times of digital transformation. Introducing localized and personalized solutions and devices that will suit their needs.
” Education is changing
and with the power of technology
we hope we can empower every one. “
Introducing Educators to Microsoft 365 Education
Keynote speaker: Jaye Richards-Hill Microsoft Worldwide BDM Education EMEA
Keynote speaker of the event Jaye Richards-Hill, Business Development Manager, Education, Microsoft EMEA spoke on the Digital transformation of education. She spoke about Microsoft’s vision in Education and scenarios and solutions for digital transformation.
Jaye said “It is not the technology but what you do with it that is important. Education is changing and with the power of technology we hope we can empower every one. Our CEO Satya Nadella talks often about empowering STEM. Technology is driving the skills acquisition in today’s world. The skill you need today are the types of skills you need to acquire during education. It is important that institutions apply real life methods in their learning and teachings.”
Anthony Mungai Nyutu Devices Lead Education WECA
Senior Solution specialist and Microsoft Devices lead Education, WECA, Anthony Mungai Nyutu spoke about Technology in the classroom and building the education platform for the 21st-century learning. Introducing participants to solutions in Windows 10 and Office 365 that make sharing and learning interactive and fun. Demoing mixed reality in Paint 3D, Office Mix in Power Point, game based learning with Minecraft etc.
” The way you build the future
is through education. “
Helping Educators with devices and solutions
Mr. Mark Pritchard moderating the last give away device contest.
The way you build the future is through education, said Mark Pritchard General Manager Point De Vue Afrique and Zepto Ghana Limited. One of the biggest challenge in Africa is not the connectivity or technology but the money,. He said this when talking about how Point of View and Zepto Ghana are trying to fill in that gap. In partnership with EcoBank, organizations will be able to raise the needed funding to purchase the necessary tools and solutions to bring digital transformation to their schools and students.
Every government, private or public education partner or provider needs different solutions. Zepto Ghana Limited and Point of View Africa as local Microsoft education partners will help you find the right affordable solutions to transform learning and increase creativity.
Other solution partners at the event included Africa Schools Online, Girls Konnekt, Extramarks and ISYX. Check out and join the conversation with #MicrosoftEduGH #DigitalTransformationGH on social platforms.
by Sylvester Addo | Nov 10, 2017 | Editor Picks, General, Microsoft, Microsoft South Africa
At AfricaCom 2017, Microsoft shared on Digital Transformation and how it can accelerate the growth of African Businesses.
Lillian Barnard, Director for Public-Sector at Microsoft South Africa. shares on the ‘Digital Difference’ during the Vision for Africa keynote session.
AfricaCom is one of the continents focused telecommunication, technology and media event. With this year’s being the 20th and themed around the 4th Industrial Revolution.
Participating strongly in this years event, Microsoft sponsored the new Technology Arena. The new Technology Arena showcased innovations and technology solutions from start-ups from across the continent. It also housed the Africa 20/20, AHUB sessions and Innovation stage.
Microsoft says Digital transformation is critically important to the success of businesses across Africa and we are focused on helping our customers successfully achieve their digital business transformation. Powered by our people and our mission to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more, we have been driving cloud innovation and growth across Africa for a number years.
We also recently announced a significant investment into data centers in the African region, which expands on our existing investments aimed at: unleashing innovation to solve some of the biggest problems facing humanity; building and developing small businesses; and alleviating unemployment and poverty on our continent.
AfricaCom 20/20 Digital Transformation, IoT, AI keynote session
From One Day to One Day, AfricaCom 20/20 Keynote session by Clifford De Wit, CSE Lead Africa, Microsoft
We run the most open cloud of all big cloud providers and we run most solutions on top of our cloud, with high security. – Clifford De Wit
Hitting it off on the first day with the 20/20 Digital Transformation, IoT, AI keynote session, presented by Clifford De Wit.
Clifford also Chief Innovation Officer at Microsoft South Africa spoke on Microsoft’s Cloud offering. An intelligent cloud with an intelligent edge and shared on what is being achieved with the cloud.
“We are excited to have these data center capabilities in Africa because it connects the world to Africa and Africa to the world. We will be able to export solutions from the continent to the world”. He talked about express routes and partnerships with companies like Liquid Telecom. “express routes allows us and our customers to connect between our data centers with very low latency and very high speed”.
AfricaCom Enterprise ICT session
The executive think tank round table event focused on infrastructure in Africa. Led by Microsoft SA’s Cloud and Enterprise Business Group lead Ravi Bhat.
Conversations centered around infrastructure limitations in Africa, challenges presented by lack of fibre and low grade connectivity in many areas and how Microsoft’s wide scale data centre roll out will impact the enterprise market in Africa.
AfricaCom Vision for Africa keynote session
Finally on day 3, Lillian Barnard, Director for Public-Sector at Microsoft South Africa shared on the Digital Difference and the Transformation driven by the cloud during the Vision for Africa keynote session.
When businesses and governments fully capitalize the power of technology they can run more effective and efficient businesses as well as transparent and productive businesses. – Lillian Barnard, DPS, Microsoft South Africa
“Wherever we go and whatever we do, we touch technology and it is fundamentally shaping the way businesses think about innovation and growth. Sharing on three things that change how businesses work today. She said;
- Getting intelligent and actionable insights on data
- Cloud computing – limitless storage
- Ubiquity of mobile computing
Read the full scope on what she shared on Digital transformation is real and it’s urgent
What AfricaCom also did was to provide a platform for people in diverse sectors and ecosystems to come together, share ideas, network, sign deals, and forge healthy relationships.
by Sylvester Addo | Oct 2, 2017 | General, Microsoft Nigeria
Microsoft Nigeria hosts a Digital Government Conference to highlight the leveraging of Microsoft technologies in digital transformation for the public sector.
Photo: Dr. Isa Ali Pantami @ Digital Government Conference via NITDA NIGERIA
The digital government conference was on the theme “Empowering Digital Government to share latest innovative technology trends and government solutions. With emphasis on Microsoft’s Technology platform to improve the capabilities of government within Nigeria”.
The event held in Abuja was in cooperation with the Nigeria Communications Commission and Nigeria Information Technology Development Agency.
Some of the subjects of discussion during the event included Transforming Government Services digitally and Security of Government data. Also there was a review on how Nigeria is doing against global and regional trends when it comes to digital transformation.
Digital Transformation for the government is about making the government more accessible, efficient and transparent to people.
Microsoft Nigeria’s general manger Aikin Banuso, speaking at the event shared on Microsoft’s commitment towards digital transformation of the public sector.
He said Digital transformation has become the bedrock of most economies in the 21st century. Microsoft is uniquely driving the adoption across key strata of national development. Digital Transformation for the government is about making the government more accessible, efficient and transparent to people. It is also about unlocking insights from data. By understanding the data, government organizations can realize and increase the value of their information through digital transformation.
