Canon selects 10 Mathare community students to study at KCA University

Canon selects 10 Mathare community students to study at KCA University

Canon’s Miraisha Programme has selected 10 young storytellers from the Mathare community in Kenya to receive a scholarship at KCA University, helping them to develop skills for a sustainable livelihood.

Canon Central and North Africa (CCNA), together with Canon Miraisha, has chosen 10 young students for film and photography scholarships at the KCA University. Selected out of 200 Canon Miraisha participants taking part in the programme since 2018, the budding creatives will go on to develop their visual storytelling skills at the prestigious institution.

Canon Miraisha goes viral

CCNA has released a series of videos on social media to raise awareness of the importance of the Miraisha initiative and to celebrate the hard work and success of the scholars, which reached an incredible number of over 100,000 engagements. You can watch the full story on the @CanonCNA social channels.

One of the programme’s focal points is to provide employment opportunities to young people across Africa coming from low socio-economic background. Miraisha partnered with MindMe International Community Training Programme, based in a particularly disadvantaged community in Mathare which lacks employment prospects for young people.

The partnership empowers local young people to further develop their existing creative skills and helps them access or even create job opportunities, benefitting both their personal development and their local communities.

Future storytellers

The KCA University scholarships, which run across two 14-week semesters from May to December 2021, will enable the students to develop their visual communication skills as well as open up and prepare participants for creative and professional opportunities. This is particularly significant as currently there are young people entering into employment and entering creative professions.

The scholars will work towards a Certificate in Film Technology, studying 12 subjects including video camera operations, screenwriting, editing, photography and film production techniques. Their final project will be to produce a short film, which will allow them to showcase the development of their skills from their time involved in the programme.

The 10 students who have been granted scholarships are: Anthony Mugendi Mwaura, Cynthia Wanjiru Thige, Paul Mutisya Muindi, Brian Stephen Okwara, Saida Wangui Masudi, Maria Mumbi Muthoni, Irmale Zainabu Irmale, Mogaka Victor Gekara, Kevin Wanyoike Wanjiru, and Mercy Wangui Ndungu.

Partnerships for change

Professor Joshua G. Bagakas, Deputy Vice-Chancellor at KCA University said: “The overwhelming response to the current Miraisha campaign is a resounding vote of confidence in Canon’s training program. KCAU is especially delighted that the campaign will give 10 deserving young people the opportunity to realise their aspirations by studying film at the university. Visual storytelling is a powerful communication tool in today’s world, and we are excited to continue partnering with Canon to empower students and continue transforming lives.”

Somesh Adukia, Managing Director at Canon Central and North Africa added: “The Miraisha Programme is designed to give young people the tools and support to develop their skills and improve not only their own lives but also the lives of those in their communities. We look forward to seeing the scholars nurture their creative talents during their time at KCA University.”

These scholarships are the latest example of the direct support the Miraisha Programme offers to its participants to upskill. Across the African continent, Canon’s ‘train the trainer’ initiative, sees some participants in Miraisha programmes come back to help run future editions, it has already led to 3 local people becoming employed as Canon Miraisha Trainers. Now in its seventh year, Canon’s Miraisha Programme has educated more than 5,680 young storytellers across the continent since its launch in 2014.

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My ambition is to help adopt and accelerate Kenya’s digital transformation agenda – Kendi Nderitu

My ambition is to help adopt and accelerate Kenya’s digital transformation agenda – Kendi Nderitu

Kendi Nderitu Microsoft Kenya country manager

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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Opera launches chat service ‘Hype’ in Kenya

Opera launches chat service ‘Hype’ in Kenya

Hype Kenya Africa Opera

Opera is launching a new product called ‘Hype’ with the pilot progam rolling out in Kenya. Hype is an integrated chat service built into Opera’s mobile web browser, Opera Mini. The chat service is launching first in Africa.

Opera notes Opera mini web users in Kenya can set up an account and start using the service immediately. The company is also partnering with local communication companies Safaricom and Airtel to boost the adoption of Hype by offering free daily browsing.

Chat service, Hype, the company notes, offers secure end-to-end encryption. It will also be the world’s first mobile web browser with an integrated chat service.

Product Lead for Hype, Charles Hamel, says Hype is developed with African consumers in mind.

Today, 40% of the Kenyan population has access to smartphones, with younger generations becoming early adopters of technology. With such demographics, there is massive potential for the growth of Hype in Kenya.

On top of that, we are also partnering with Safaricom and Airtel, the leading carriers in the country, offering free daily browsing to all Opera Mini users. We believe the combination of these factors will lead to the rapid adoption of Hype in the country
.”

Charles Hamel, Product Lead for Hype

The chat service also comes with stickers desgined by Kenyan artists Brian Omolo and Lulu Kitololo.

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Microsoft hires 200 software engineers to work in Kenya ADC

Microsoft hires 200 software engineers to work in Kenya ADC

Kenya ADC  microsoft software engineers

Microsoft announced the launch of its global skills initiative in Kenya today. At the event, Kenya Country Manager, Kendi Ntwiga-Nderitu, disclosed the company has so far hired about 200 software engineers at the Kenya Africa Development Center (ADC) site.

The company earlier mentioned plans to recruit 500 software engineers by 2023 at the launch of the Microsoft ADC. Last year Kenya ADC manager Jack Ngare noted it was nearing only 70 software engineers. A number that was below the planned 100 hires, with skills being a major hindrance.

Two years after the launch, Microsoft seems to have the momentum to achieve its target. This new detail from the country manager suggests the ADC has recorded more than a 110% increase in new hires.

Here is what Kendi said speaking about the ADC Kenya site at the launch of the global skills initiative in Kenya.

For those of us in tech, we like to say, if there’s one thing that is an equalizer it really is the world of technology. When you have the right digital skills it doesn’t matter where you are from in the world, it means you can play.

We have seen that possible because even as Microsoft here in Kenya we have about 200 [software] engineers. That sit to develop Microsoft programs that are used around the world.

Which tells you we have people of our land who develop globally used programs. We can bring that onboard to the country and region to impact and make a difference for Kenyans.

Kendi Ntwiga-Nderitu

Senior Software engineer hiccup

The quality of software engineers across the continent has been a recurring conversation across many Africa tech communities. With the issue of a lack of senior software engineers being a major one.

Microsoft mentioned rolling out various skills initiatives to get the kind of software engineers it needs to staff its ADC. Recently the company announced a LEAP apprenticeship program with a focus on senior software engineers. Could Microsoft also be facing this dilemma?

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Microsoft Global Skills Initiative formally launches in Kenya

Microsoft Global Skills Initiative formally launches in Kenya

Global Skills Initiative Kenya Microsoft

Microsoft officially launches its Global Skills Initiative program in Kenya today. The announcement comes as the company unveils a private sector partnership agreement with Stanbic Kenya and the Kenya Ministry of Industrialization, Trade and Enterprise Development.

The partnership aims to enhance the employability of Kenyan citizens through digital upskilling to address the skills gap within the market.

The program will be rolled out in two parts, the Global Skills Initiative (GSI) and the Emerging Markets Initiative (EMI). The GSI is what is being rolled out globally using Linkedin’s learning platform. The EMI is more about digital literacy for underserved communities. Part of the company’s coding4employment partnership with the AfDB. Both contents will be localized, customized and deployed by local implementing partners.

54 thousand Kenyan youth have engaged with the GSI since it launched in June says Kendi Ntwiga-Nderitu, Microsoft Kenya Country Manager. She also noted that Microsoft wants to help people differentiate themselves to be relevant for today and tomorrow with digitizations.

Kendi shares that some of the popular learning paths amongst Kenyan learners are skills that can be offered to the world from Kenya. These include; software development, customer service specialist, data analysts, digital marketing and project management. They make one relevant not just for Kenya, which increases the output of our youth, she adds.

At Microsoft, equipping citizens with adequate resources and technology so that they are able to upskill and reskill has always been at the centre of our work. Securing partnerships with like-minded organizations such as Stanbic Bank Foundation and the Ministry makes complete sense if we are to reach and scale for maximum impact and successfully curb the impact of the pandemic.

Kendi Ntwiga-Nderitu, Microsoft Kenya Country Manager

The Global Skills Initiative in Kenya through the partnership will see about 50 thousand people skilled by end of the year. With plans to reach 500 thousand in the next three years.

Microsoft announced the skills program in June last year after the global economic crisis due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. The program seeks to help 25 million people worldwide hit by job losses acquire digital skills to fill new ones.

Global Skills Initiative in Africa

When Microsoft launched its Global Skills Initiative it didn’t see a lot of adoption in Africa due to several challenges. Microsoft shared in January that 900 thousand people across the Middle East and Africa have participated in the program. Noting the popular learning paths are software developer, customer service specialist and data analyst.

This number shows a lesser fraction of the 10 million learners around the globe and what has been achieved in other regions.

The company mentioned partnering with other organizations and governments as one of the many ways to change this. Including offering additional funding and services where needed.

Watch the Microsoft Kenya country manager make the announcement.

https://youtu.be/YmrqaxPVics?t=3375
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