Microsoft invited female developers in Kenya and Nigeria to participate in the Microsoft LEAP Hackathon 2019 event. An initiative of the newly launched Microsoft Africa Development center. The all-female event seeks to strengthen the place of women in technology. A four day program combining traditional classroom learning with hands on projects.
In Nigeria 30 female developers were selected from about 170 who successfully applied to participate in the event. Nelly Tadi from Abuja state was one of the 30 selected female developers. She shares with us her experience of the Microsoft LEAP Hackathon. For Nelly it was a learning curve. Learning new technologies and tools, practicing how to use them and working with a team.
“I got a forwarded message from a friend on WhatsApp and actually ignored it at first. I later went back to it, clicked on the link and started to fill the form on my phone.” She mentions almost giving up as there was a quiz section in the form where she had to write code and the phone wouldn’t allow. She however had the urge to continue because she found the quiz challenging, intriguing and wanted to solve it. “So I picked up my laptop, entered the link and started the quiz again.”
“I was super excited to be selected. I felt honored. I mean it was a Microsoft event with free accommodation and feeding. It felt important.”
Learning
“Having once participated in a hackathon event in school – Bingham University – I thought it was going to be coding throughout. We had trainings for the first two days and then the Hackathon for the remaining two days of the event. To be honest before this I had never heard about Azure, Microsoft teams and DevOps.”
Participants were taken through
writing maintainable and testable code. Learning about DevOps, Azure,
machine learning studio, virtual machines, Azure AI and other Microsoft
technologies and tools.
“The mentors were really patient with us. Going over the same thing again and again just to ensure that we were learning. The organizers, mentors were all so friendly and easy going. The atmosphere there was enough to give anybody the confidence to ask questions and learn. We hosted our web app on azure and also did a machine learning project on it with the free credit given to us. So yeah, it wasn’t just about the training, it was great because i actually got to practically use these tools.”
Hacking with Team 5X at the Microsoft LEAP Hackathon
During the hackathon Nelly Tadi was put in Team 5X. A team that saw her becoming friends with Busola Okeowo, Catherine John, Mary Olohitare Belo and Hope Oluwalolope. Learning the valuable lesson of working in a team. Nelly says “I’m so glad we learnt to understand ourselves. If not i’m quite sure we wouldn’t have been able to come up with a good project not to talk more of winning. I was really excited about winning.”
Nelly’s Team 5X won the Microsoft
LEAP Hackathon with a solution they named AGRIFY. A platform that connects buyers, sellers and transporters of good and
quality farm produce.
“We created a solution based on a real life problem. Our idea was a product called AGRIFY. Agrify is a platform to connect buyers and sellers of farm produce and also ensure delivery of good quality farm products. We used machine learning to determine quality of farm produce and built the web application with PHP Laravel. During the training we were taught how to host web apps on azure so we implemented that knowledge by hosting our demo app on https://agrify.azurewebsites.net.
Nelly Tadi lives in Abuja and is the founder of Why Code. An organization training young people in different aspects of IT. She shares “we are currently working on introducing coding clubs to schools, running summer schools and other training events. I intend to continue to pursue this dream and also keep learning more about programming and improving my skills.”
Kelechukwu Iruoma and Ruth Olorounbi are winners of the
second phase of the Microsoft Modern Journalism program which focuses on
immersive storytelling. The journalists will be reporting on the aftermath of
oil spills in Ogoniland, Nigeria. They will receive special grants to involve
audiences in real-time news gathering and storytelling of important news events.
Microsoft’s modern journalism program is in partnership with the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ). The initiative helps journalists use innovative ways that enhance news coverage and connect more deeply with their audiences. The first phase focused on data analysis. Kenya environment and health reporter Verah Okeyo, was a grantee of the first phase of the program early this year. The second phase focuses on immersive storytelling. Microsoft says they will receive funding and training to pioneer storytelling using immersive technologies like livestreaming and mixed reality.
How can we help journalists around the world tell stories. From sports updates to watchdog investigations, in ways that promote transparency, understanding and engagement?
Microsoft
ICFJ says the two Nigerian reporters will explore the effect of oil spills on community health. Integrating elements such as livestreaming to reach out to new audiences.
Freelance journalist Kelechukwu lruoma and Per Second News business editor Ruth Olurounbi will use drone footage and lab testing to investigate the long-term health effects of repeated oil spills in the Niger Delta.
As part of their investigation, they will work with health professionals to conduct lab testing on 50 people across Ogoniland, a kingdom in southern Nigeria’s Rivers State hit by the country’s first major oil spill in 1970. An average of 240,000 barrels of crude oil are spilled in the delta every year, according to the Nigerian Medical Journal. Studies link oil spills to cancer, childhood malnutrition and low fertility.
As their award they will receive $7,500, hands-on training
in tools and techniques and instruction in relevant Microsoft technologies.
We are listing open Internship positions in Nigeria in the Microsoft Interns4Afrika initiative.
Microsoft 4Afrika‘s internship initiative provides real employment opportunities to talented young professionals in Sales, Marketing and IT Technical Support tracks. A response to demand from its software distribution and development partners across Africa and the Middle East.
Do you live in Nigeria? Check out Internship positions in Nigeria. Get to be a Technical Support, Sales or Marketing intern. Microsoft’s Intern4Afrika initiative will offer the intern a unique experience with a dynamic and agile technology organization.
You will get the opportunity to work for 6 months with a Microsoft partner organization on real projects. Get to collaborate and learn from your 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” a participant shared. “After 6 months, the session came to an end and I was lucky enough to be retained by the company” Elizabeth Chege shares.
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.
Nat Friedman is visiting top GitHub contribution country Nigeria to interact with developers.
Nat friedman, GitHub CEO and Microsoft Corporate Vice President in March announced he was heading to Nigeria and Ghana in a tweet. He shared “I’m going to Nigeria and Ghana for the first time later this year, and I’m interested in meeting local developers and entrepreneurs and learning about how GitHub can be of service.”
This week Nat has been spending time with the open source developer community in Nigeria. Meeting with developers of different ecosystems. Listening to the work they do and how they use developer tools and the GitHub platform. He met GitHub campus experts and developers at an open source Mixer at the Microsoft Nigeria office. He’s also visited and spent time with developers of tech companies and co-creation hubs such as Andela, Paystack, CC hub, etc.
Nat had shared that Microsoft is broadening its horizons as a developer-centric company. That’s by rallying behind technologies like Linux, Git, node and Kubernetes. Microsoft, he says is remodeling its engineering culture after the example of open source projects. For the GitHub CEO and his visiting team, listening and learning from developers in the African tech space will allow them serve better.
GitHub will be looking to hire remote developers from Africa soon says the CEO.
GitHub CEO, Interacts with Nigerian developer community
— Git’sbane, the Sage of the North (@Sage_Godspeed) June 4, 2019
I just met @natfriedman (GitHub CEO) ??. We talked about the open source developer community in Lagos and made him play my open source Android game! pic.twitter.com/YSB9eB8qz4
— Nenne ‘Adora’ Nwodo (@theadoranwodo) June 3, 2019
We loved meeting with @github CEO @natfriedman and the rest of the GitHub team at a fireside chat at the Paystack office yesterday! Stoked for the future of developer relations in Africa! pic.twitter.com/GAzRoBmXTz
@natfriedman graced us with his presence yesterday. We had a great time discussing about how GitHub could work better for us, how to drive engagement in the community and all. It was pretty awesome! He’s a great listener. Thanks a lot, Nat ??? pic.twitter.com/PpfqmpH4Bz
Earlier in the week, we welcomed @github‘s CEO @natfriedman and his team to the office. We gave him a tour of the building, and he also got the chance to interact with some of our team members to learn more about our work at #CcHUB. pic.twitter.com/jK9QUSyaoS
Had a close door meeting with the CEO of Github, @natfriedman yesterday. He is amazing and really interested in Nigeria’s tech ecosystem. He explained how we can leverage the amazing power of the tools GitHub has. It was awesome?.
Amrote Abdella Microsoft Regional Director shares on Microsoft investing in Africa’s technology space.
Amrote Abdella speaks at Africa Investment Forum
Microsoft’s Africa Development Center [ADC] is an opportunity to hire and give exposure to young engineers coming out of universities. An opportunity to work side by side with Microsoft engineers building latest technologies. Amrote Abdella Microsoft Regional Director 4Afrika shares with hosts of The Morning Show, Arise News, Nigeria.
Africa has a huge role to play in the technology space.
In the interview she says the announcement of the datacenters and ADC is with the premise of how we [Microsoft] build skills and allow Africa be part of tech space in terms of Microsoft products. We believe Africa has a huge role to play in the tech space she says. Given how long we’ve been on the continent, we really believe it is Africa’s time to be part of the core development of technology not just consumption.
On skills development she says the IFC report on digital skills shows that by 2030, 230 million digital skills and jobs will have to be created. Microsoft is working with universities, creating the opportunity for right training through curriculum contributions.
Microsoft is also working on a bridge to the work force through its internship program. Amrote shares that the Interns4Afrika program discovers, trains, identifies and places graduates with Microsoft’s 12,000 plus partner ecosystem. This she remarks allows for a small medium enterprise to grow their business because they don’t have the resources. Giving the young graduate the opportunity to grow.
Through innovations enablement and access, we can unlock the opportunities in Africa.
