Microsoft 4Afrika’s Skills #Interns4Afrika Internship Africa initiative offers you a way to build work experience in a thriving environment.
Do you live in Accra, Ghana? Get to be a Microsoft Dynamics 365 Technical Support, Sales or Marketing intern. Microsoft’s Intern4Afrika initiative is offering a unique experience with a dynamic and agile technology organization.
The intern will get the opportunity to work for 6 months with a Microsoft partner organization on real projects. Get to collaborate and skill up on the job with the help of colleagues. You can also get to be hired by the firm depending on your performance and if you are interested in being hired after the internship program.
All the best to you as you apply. If you do get in, come back and share the experience with us? Also kindly report any broken links so we can fix them. Thank you.
Ghanaian Teacher, Richard Owura Kwadwo Hottish Akoto Appiah, one of ten Change-Makers who inspired Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella in 2018
10 Change-Makers that inspired Satya Nadella in 2018
Satya nadella has named Richard ‘Owura Kwadwo Hottish’ Akoto as part of individuals and teams who inspired him in 2018.
The CEO of Microsoft shared this in a post titled 10 change-makers who inspired me in 2018. He shared “that these change makers are solving some of the world’s most pressing challenges, often overcoming odds“.
Here’s an excerpt of what the Microsoft CEO shared about the Change-Makers
“As I reflect on the year, I want to celebrate 10 people and teams who inspired me in 2018. With their ambition to think big and take action and also with their commitment to never lose sight of those whose lives they are trying to better. From a Ghanaian teacher who taught his students Word on a chalkboard, to a young entrepreneur in Paris who is reimagining recycling. To a Microsoft team in the United States working to improve outcomes in the foster-care system. These change-makers’ stories made me pause and reflect on the incredible opportunity each of us has to impact and spark change in our organizations, our local communities and the world.”
Richard’s post that went viral
Satya Nadella goes on to say that “to me, Richard exemplifies the dedication and creativity of so many great teachers who go above and beyond each day for their students“.
Satya recapped Richards story by saying; When Richard Appiah Akoto was preparing his students in rural Ghana for a national IT exam earlier this year, he refused to let a lack of working computers get in the way. In remarkably accurate detail, Richard drew the [Microsoft] Word user interface on his classroom chalkboard so his students could learn how to use it. His illustrations went viral, and our teams rallied to support him, providing the school with a computer lab.
Richard Owura Kwadwo Hottish Akoto Appiah speaks at E2 2018 in Singapore.
Satya Nadella concludes that each of these change-makers show us how one individual or team driven by passion and ingenuity can empower others and have meaningful impact in the world.
Ghana joins 56 other countries and 420 organizations and companies on developing common principles for securing cyberspace. The Ghanaian president said this during the Global Citizen Festival in South Africa to celebrate the centenary of Nelson Mandela. Joining Microsoft and the common wealth on stage to talk about the path to digital peace.
Sharing on Microsoft’s call for Digital Peace, President Akufo-Addo stated that “57 governments endorsed a new international declaration, the Paris Call for Trust and Security in Cyberspace to work collectively towards a common goal of protecting cyberspace. The president announced Ghana’s support for the Paris Call and urged other nations to join.”
we are in the right moment to take action to protect the digital world where we live, work and learn.
– Microsoft
Microsoft’s Digital Peace Now campaign encourages world leaders to achieve digital peace. Microsoft also believes we are in the right moment to take action to protect the digital world where we live, work and learn. About 100,000 people across 140 countries have signed the Digital Peace Now petition according to Microsoft.
Microsoft worked closely with the French government.
WIRED shares that Microsoft worked closely with the French government to craft the Paris Call. And calls it “a sign of how tech corporations are playing a more active role in governing the internet”.
Microsoft meets with Partners in Ghana at Partner CEO Forum to share Vision and Strategy
Microsoft hosts Partner CEO Forum event to show support and commitment to its business ecosystem in Ghana. This was evident with the high level representation of the Microsoft team in the room. From the General Manger Middle East and Africa Regional Multi Country Cluster, Ghana Country Manager and Partner Technical managers. As shared by Damola Solanke, Public Sector Sales Lead, it had been a long time since Microsoft spent time with partners in the country.
MCC CMO Enterprise Lead, Edmond Idoko getting the sessions underway said “We are here to show Support and commitment to our partners“.
Microsoft is committed to the success of our partner ecosystem. – Ibrahim Youssry
Our Success is to make you successful. It is a different mindset. – Ibrahim Youssry
For Ibrahim it was a pleasure to be in Ghana meeting with partners. Microsoft’s new subsidiary MCC covers 67 countries across Africa and the Middle East with a focus on enterprise business. Microsoft doesn’t have presence in all these 67 countries. He said our focus directionally behind the MCC is to leverage our partner ecosystem to drive their businesses so we scale our purpose.
“Microsoft wants to provide partners with much more assistance and support. With the new model Microsoft is committed to the success of our partner ecosystem. Our success comes with success to our partner ecosystem. To make you successful driving Microsoft business or your business on our technologies. It is a different mindset.” – Ibrahim Youssry
Ibrahim also shared that for the first time in Microsoft’s history in Africa it recorded an 18% growth.
Partners meet Ghana Country Manager at Partner CEO Forum
It is the value we can add to your organization. – Akin Banuso, Country manager Nigeria and Ghana
Partners were introduced to new Country Manager under the new MCC model Akin Banuso. Akin Banuso, Country manager for Nigeria and Ghana told partners “The future is bright”.
“In Ghana we want partners that are committed. Partners that will talk to customers about the solutions that really matter to them”. For Microsoft he said “it is the value we can add to your organization. The idea is we are going to scale through partners.”
Partners are the growth engine for Microsoft and Microsoft is the engine for partners.
– Ola Williams, Partner Technology Manager MCC
Microsoft MCC Partner Technology Manager Ola Williams told partners without you our partners, we can’t be successful. The new model is a desire to scale through partners across most of our markets. She mentioned Microsoft has made significant investments in new resources with capabilities to help partners achieve aim. The aim to jointly help customers in their digital transformation journey.
She iterated partners are the growth engine for Microsoft and Microsoft is the engine for partners. We want to scale through partners. We are investing to help partners and customers.
The whole conversation from speaker to speaker was on how Microsoft together with partners can achieve growth together.
We share with you where .NET Conf events are taking place across the continent.
.NET Conf 2018 is here and is set to take place, September 12 to the 14th 2018. This is a free virtual 3-day developer event with local meet-ups scheduled to take place September 12 through to October 31st across the globe.
The virtual livestream event will discuss what’s new in .NET by the builders. Other speakers will talk about some of the tools including .NET Core, ASP.NET Core, Xamarin, C#, Azure, AI/ML, etc. Join and find out what the future holds for .NET.
This year’s event features, Microsoft MVP, Toni Solarin-Sodara of Andela Nigeria. Toni will be speaking on “Cross-Platform Unit Testing and Code Coverage with Coverlet” on day 3. Don’t miss it.
The .NET Conf local event brings engineers and developers; no matter the level, of varying languages together. So this is a chance to meet and talk with the people in your ecosystem. Learn and share ideas, make friends and grow your network.
Here we’ve put together some of the local events taking place in Africa. Check the list to see if there’s an event taking place in your country.
Kindly click for more details and register to participate in the 2018 .NET Conf event
Know of, or organizing an event we haven’t entered. Kindly contact us to include in the list. Thank you.
There will also be a virtual[Twitter] attendance party where you can win prizes including an Xbox One X. To participate, follow the hashtag #dotNETConf on September 12th on Twitter and answer questions.
