Team RUTELA is the winner of the first edition of the Equity Group Hackathon in partnership with Microsoft. The University of Nairobi student team wins a cash prize of Kes. 600,000, 3 months mentorship with Microsoft, Technical Cloud certificates for all team members and a gift hamper.
The Equity Hackathon brought students from the University of Nairobi and Meru University of Science and Technology together. To deliver solutions to address business and social challenges in the Payments, Financial Inclusion and Digital Identity thematic areas. The Hackathon, which opened for registration on 4th February, saw a total of 663 students register and compete to be among the top 120 participants to take part as innovators.
Equity Group, in partnership with Microsoft, brought together the shortlisted students for the virtual Hackathon which ran from the 17th of February to the 17th of March this year. The initiative challenged the students to be innovative and collaborate to build proofs of concept and minimum viable products for predefined business problems and social issues.
The Hackathon was phased into 4 stages. The first phase involved instructor-led and self-paced training of the participants on Microsoft Azure and the Business Problem Statements. In the second stage, the students went through the coding with mentorship from representatives from Equity, the University of Nairobi, Meru University of Science and Technology and Microsoft. Their solutions then went through a 1st and 2nd knock off stage, which culminated in the selection of the 4 winners.
Kenya is emerging as an innovations hub, especially in the financial sector, and organizations need to start looking internally for solutions that will give them an edge in the market says Microsoft ADC Kenya Program Manager, Irene Githinji.
“We are indeed not surprised by the ideas we have seen these young students work on during the Hackathon. The spirit of innovation is ripe in Kenya and it is time for Kenyan corporates to start looking at local education institutions and technology hubs for the development of unique solutions for their business needs.”
Irene Githinji
Equity Hackathon Winners
Winning team – Rutela, from the University of Nairobi
1st runner up – team Jazia, from Meru University of Science and Technology
2nd runner up – Hubert Kimani, from the University of Nairobi
3rd runner up – Team Code Ninjas, from the University of Nairobi
The 1st and 2nd Runners Equity Hackathon winners took home a cash prize of Kes. 250,000 and Kes. 150,000 respectively, a 3 months mentorship opportunity from Microsoft and a gift hamper. The 3rd Runners Up won Kes 100,000 and a gift hamper for each team member.
“The Hackathon has enabled us to sharpen our skills and align them to the demands of the marketplace“, notes Maluki Muthusi, from team Rutela. “We are grateful for the guidance given to us by our lecturers and the teams from Equity and Microsoft throughout the competition. We look forward to applying the principles even beyond this competition“, he adds.
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Microsoft is officially launching the new home of its software engineers in Kenya. The Africa Development Centre (ADC East Africa) engineering team will now be based at Dunhill Towers, along Waiyaki Way, Nairobi. Having previously shared Microsoft’s office at the Oval. The ultra-modern office facility will co-locate with Microsoft’s newly launched The Garage, design, research, and innovation teams.
The ultra-modern ADC East Africa office space borrows heavily from Microsoft’s modern workplace design. Featuring solutions that reduce or prevent the emission of carbon into the atmosphere to meet the company’s target of becoming net carbon negative by 2030. The facility will use self-heating windows, a mini solar plant, and a water treatment facility to recycle and purify water. The eco-friendly office also optimizes space utilization, air conditioning, and lighting adjustments.
Kenya president, Uhuru Kenyatta was present at the event to unveil the plaque and officially launch the office facility. Other guests present include Joe Mucheru, the Cabinet Secretary for ICT, Innovation, and Youth Affairs. As well as Joy Chik, Microsoft Corporate Vice President, Identity Division and Executive Sponsor of the Africa Development Center.
The facility will continue Microsoft’s efforts to train, equip and hire software engineers in Kenya and Africa. To contribute to the development of Microsoft products that are in use by over 1 billion devices, says ADC East Africa MD Jack Ngare.
Africa is such a young continent and Microsoft absolutely believes the future is here, notes Joy Chick, at the event. We invite all the young innovative entrepreneurs to help us collectively build technology for Africa, but more importantly for the world. This is just the beginning. We are excited about the opening of the ADC and what the future can bring, she adds.
Launched in May 2019, Microsoft says the Africa Development Center currently has about 570 full-time employees across both sites. In Nairobi, it has about 450 employees with plans to add another 50 before the year ends. Surpassing the company’s initial plan to hire 500 software engineers by the end of 2023. This number reflects roles across software engineering, machine learning, data science, market research, infrastructure, etc.
1/3 President Uhuru Kenyatta on Thursday evening presided over the official launch of the Microsoft Africa Development Centre (ADC) in Westlands, Nairobi City County. #ADCNairobiOfficepic.twitter.com/7JfcUhoCwn
Part of the festivities to kickoff the ADC Nairobi launch, we held a session with the developer community in Nairobi, where we demonstrated the plans that The Microsoft Garage has put in place to support the tech ecosystem 😊.#ADCNairobiLaunch#TheBigReset#MSFTGaragepic.twitter.com/PnB4dyoDai
— Microsoft Africa Development Center (@MicrosoftADC) March 24, 2022
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Microsoft is working with the World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU) to support Savings and Credit Cooperatives Societies (SACCOs) with digital finance solutions to improve and increase credit union lending to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Kenya.
The company held a two-day ideation workshop with 16 SACCOs in Mombasa seeking to understand the digital transformation challenges faced by the lending sector. With a strategic partnership execution program drawn to address the concerns raised during the event.
Microsoft says digital transformation will firstly build trust among members and improve loan repayments. Secondly, It will enable informed decision making on members or clients. Thirdly, the transformation will enable better credit scoring letting SACCOs manage risks and improve their bottom line.
Microsoft announced an MoU with WOCCU last year to help accelerate digital transformation within the savings and credit sector. Where both parties will work to establish a framework for the digital transformation of SACCOs in Kenya. Microsoft will leverage programs to close the skills gap and develop a training curriculum to accelerate the adoption. It will also identify local partners to support the development of solutions and business strategies within the sector. Whilst WOCCU will deploy its TIFI lending methodology and SME Finance Toolkit.
“COVID-19 has accelerated the need for SACCOs to evolve and embrace digital channels. Empowering them to embark on this journey is not only critical to their sustainability but also the key to unlocking further growth potential within the region,” said Megan O’Donnell, WOCCU Vice President of Financial Inclusion.
Both organizations will develop a proof of concept that can be tested and deployed once they meet sector demands.
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Four undergraduate students teamed up to participate in the 2021 Microsoft Student Hackathon, they eventually emerged winners and have received and accepted offers to join Microsoft as full-time software engineers. The students Gloria Keya, David Lutta, Christine Wambui, and Audrey Njenga will start their professional careers at Microsoft when they graduate from school.
They are all final year students pursuing computer science at universities located in Kenya and Rwanda. Firstly, Gloria and Christine are students at the University of Nairobi(UoN) in Kenya. Whilst David is a student at the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology(JKUAT). Finally, Audrey is a student at the African Leadership University(ALU) based in Rwanda.
The students who had just completed their summer internship with Microsoft learned about the hackathon and decided to extend their Microsoft experience. By forming a team to participate in the student hackathon. Which was concurrently taking place with the Microsoft Global Hackathon for Microsoft employees. The hackathon event was to hack solutions for Sustainability, Society, Education, and Ability using Microsoft technologies. In all, there were students from 22 other countries participating in the virtual Microsoft student hackathon. Over the course of just a week, they conceived, built, and tested their idea.
“We wanted to create an opportunity after their Microsoft internship for the students to stay connected to Microsoft and use the skills and knowledge they acquired in a new project and challenge that reflected their own passion,” says Steve Scallen, Senior Director of University Engagement at the Microsoft Garage. “They were all summer interns at Microsoft, and they all have offers to come back, which they’ve accepted. We are very excited they have chosen to start their professional careers at Microsoft.”
The students won the grand prize-winning project with their idea Forest Guard. Which falls under the hack for earth challenge and sustainability category. Forest Guard is a real-time on-site deforestation sensor and alert system that detects and reports dangerous or illegal activity in protected forests. It will be able to detect illegal logging and forest fire, using an IoT tool and Azure cognitive services.
Microsoft says they will have the opportunity to continue hacking the Forest Guard at The Garage when they begin work as full-time software engineers at Microsoft Nairobi in 2022. Microsoft is bringing The Garage program to Africa and will be opening new locations on the Microsoft Lagos and Nairobi campuses. The Garage is a Microsoft resource for employees to connect, experiment and be creative outside of their day job.
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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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