Microsoft’s Africa Transformation Office (ATO) is announcing a two-day Xbox Game Studios Game Camp in Africa. To empower African creators to realize their potential in the gaming industry through unique learning experiences from industry leaders. The conference will run from July 15th – 16th, 2023.
The two full days events are themed “The Journey of a Game” and will offer multiple perspectives on the complex craft of game development. In addition, there will be online learning components to the camp, which will allow participants to engage with focused training modules on topics that align closely with their skills and interests, before and after the event.
While the camp is available online for all registered campers, Game Camp will also host in-person viewing events for 100 selected campers at the Microsoft campuses in Cairo, Johannesburg, Lagos, and Nairobi. These sites will offer viewing parties on-site panel sessions and opportunities to meet with Microsoft and Xbox personnel. Furthermore, teams or individuals with games to pitch are encouraged to do so.
To participate, individuals must be of legal age, reside in any country on the African continent, and be studying or working part or full-time in the field of software development, visual arts, 3D, music and audio, web design, narrative design, or professional project management. See the complete list of participation requirements at Xbox.com.
“At Xbox, we’re on a mission to bring the joy and community of gaming to the world’s 3 billion gamers and we recognize that Africa is home to the largest population of youth in the world, many who love to play. In 2019 I attended the opening of our Africa Development Centre and met with tech leaders, educators, and developers from across the region to understand their vision for the future of game creation. Through the inaugural Xbox Game Studios Camp Africa, in collaboration with Microsoft’s Africa Transformation Office, we have an opportunity to continue to deepen our relationships with talented developers in region and help African games studios realize their vision and role in the global gaming industry,” said Phil Spencer, CEO, Gaming at Microsoft.
The Xbox Game Studios Game Camp program is an initiative that unifies various Xbox initiatives under one umbrella where talent is celebrated and game developers are empowered to pursue their dreams.
“At Microsoft, we are excited to enable African game developers and creators to build faster through access to tools and resources, and to help their games be discovered by players in Africa and around the world. We want to grow strong roots in this significant market for gaming and game development. The ATO and Xbox personnel will also combine efforts to identify game studios to invest in through our Startups acceleration program and venture capital investment partners. I’m looking forward to seeing what innovative concepts this Game Camp produces,” says Wael Elkabbany, Strategic Initiatives Lead for Microsoft CEMA.
The Microsoft Africa Development Centre (ADC) and Microsoft Leap are delighted to launch an inaugural workshop intentionally designed for university lecturers, proficient in leading technology-focused courses. University lecturers will be provided with an opportunity to engage with fellow educators in skill enhancement modules and identify best practices to incorporate into their curriculum. The 12-week program, which begins on March 6th, will use a hybrid classroom model and practical training to provide instructors with a better understanding of industry requirements and inspire a curriculum change that will align university classrooms with the needs of the technology industry.
“This program is the result of collaboration on many fronts, including university lecturers and their students. The training has been designed to provide lecturers with hands-on experience with industry needs, allowing them to design effective teaching for their students in an equally practical manner. The course will also expose them to advanced topics and allow them to learn and experiment with effective teaching techniques while obtaining essential aspects of carrying out research studies,” said Catherine Muraga, Microsoft ADC Managing Director, at the program’s launch.
Yolanda Natal-Santos, Microsoft Leap’s Senior Business Program Manager says “Rooted in our culture of the growth mindset and the belief that digital skills are for everyone, we are grateful for our partnership with the Microsoft ADC, as we extend Microsoft Leap’s global reach to a region that is rich in culture and talent. The growth of our partnership with the Microsoft ADC, has provided our program with a platform to continue identifying, engaging, and aligning with changemakers in Africa, as we impact and elevate together.”
Working collectively with Engineers from the ADC, Nairobi, the program will enhance skills, based on a curriculum developed and taught by Microsoft Leap instructors.
In addition to technical programming aspects and teaching a hybrid classroom, educators will receive training on specific Microsoft tools that are already being used in classrooms around the world and can be introduced to Kenyan lecture halls. The program will also provide technical educators with the tools they need to introduce popular Microsoft resources like Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Power Platforms, and Microsoft Dynamics. “JKUAT’s Department of Computing is thrilled to participate in the Microsoft Skilling Program, as it will provide our staff with access to cutting-edge technologies and a leading global company. This opportunity to engage with industry-relevant skills and knowledge
brings great joy to the university”, Dr. Lawrence Nderu, Chairman/Lecturer, Department of Computing, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology said. “The world is changing quickly, and if we are to mould tomorrow’s leaders, we as lecturers must evolve too. Each day, there are new tools and methods being devised that are becoming increasingly crucial to operating within the tech industry. For the sake of our students, it is best that we learn how to leverage industry-standard and emerging technology from industry leaders.”
Githinji emphasised a multi-pronged approach to improving technical education in Kenyan universities. “Improving lecturers’ capacities is line with the ADC’s digital skilling initiatives that range from elementary school-level all the way into the workplace. We held several campus tours last year, which prompted us to begin a curriculum review process with JKUAT. Improving all aspects of the training ladder is critical if we want to create a tech talent pipeline that is not only robust enough to meet today’s needs, but also propels Africa to compete on a global scale,” she added.
The first cohort of 23 educators is drawn from both private and public universities, including Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT), Multimedia University, and Kirinyaga University. Strathmore University, KCA University, Kabarak University, USIU- Africa, Zetech University, and Africa Nazarene University are the others.
This course is designed to magnify the lecturer’s delivery of core general management and drive engagement with advanced technology topics. Lecturers will be able to experiment with alternative teaching techniques and glean additional essential insight and research studies best practices.
About Microsoft Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT” @microsoft) enables digital transformation for the era of an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge. Its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.
About the ADC Microsoft launched the Africa Development Centre (ADC) in 2019 with an initial site within Microsoft offices in Nairobi, Kenya, and another in Lagos, Nigeria. The centre’s goal is to attract world-class African engineering talent to create innovative solutions spanning the intelligent cloud and intelligent edge. Since its inception in Nairobi in 2019, the ADC has grown to over 500
Microsoft is announcing plans to build a new team of data scientists on the ground in Africa to work to improve climate resilience, by setting up AI for Good Labs in Nairobi, Kenya, and Cairo, Egypt. This will be the company’s first global expansion of the AI for Good Lab. The new team will work with local partners to use AI on new climate initiatives.
Currently, statistics show that for every five data scientists in the Global North there is one in the Global South. In Africa the situation is dire and the gap is wider. For every data scientist in Africa, there are 14 in the Global North. This means a gap in the available reliable data to work with. As well as being able to turn them into insights for the decision-makers to use. This is why Microsoft is planning to open AI for Good Labs in Africa to help close that divide.
As world and business leaders gather in Egypt for COP27, Juan Lavista Ferres, Chief Data Scientist, AI for Good, Microsoft, reveals Microsoft’s plans to close the climate data divide in the Global South. The work of the Labs he notes will be informed by the Microsoft Africa AI Innovation Council. Another new establishment by Microsoft in partnership with representatives from African organizations such as the AfDB, and African Climate Foundation.
“We see these days ahead as an opportunity to engage in important discussions and take steps toward solutions. Today we are sharing details about our work to support new climate solutions. By harnessing the power of data and artificial intelligence (AI), with an expansion of our AI for Good Research Lab into Egypt and Kenya.“
Juan Lavista Ferres
“Access to reliable climate data is critical to inform decision-making and avoid the worst effects of climate change“, says Wael El Kabbany, General Manager, Africa Regional Cluster, Microsoft. “We believe these labs will be significant in closing the climate data divide“, he adds.
Microsoft AI for Good Lab
The Microsoft AI for Good Lab consists of data scientists and researchers who use AI, Machine Learning, and statistical modeling to address human challenges. Across the AI for Good program portfolio—Earth, Accessibility, Humanitarian Action, Cultural Heritage, and Health. They work on issues that improve societies and environments with a focus on sustainability.
Juan adds that Microsoft “will work to scale AI for Good projects and support startups in the region to deliver new AI innovations“. Africa-based data scientists will have access to satellite imagery thanks to a partnership between Microsoft and Plant Labs. To address challenges nominated by the Africa AI Innovation Council with a special focus on adaptation and early warning systems.
The new Microsoft AI for Good labs in the region will bring in new jobs as it hires data scientists and researchers with experience in computer vision, statistics, and artificial intelligence.
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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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