Microsoft officially launched the Lagos Africa Development Center site at an event in Nigeria. The Lagos team will develop Azure services that power new Augmented Reality experiences for Microsoft’s mixed-reality platform. An investment that will enable digital transformation to create sustained societal impact in Africa says Microsoft.
Microsoft executives
Presidential Visit
Earlier in the day, Microsoft Nigeria Country manager Akin Banuso led the visiting Microsoft executives to meet with Nigerian Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo.
Today, I received a delegation from the Microsoft Corporation led by Phil Spencer, the Executive Vice-President of Gaming. pic.twitter.com/ph9tvMeivi
Phil Spencer, Microsoft Executive Vice President of Gaming leading the visiting executives told the vice president about the project. He said Microsoft’s investments are an ambition on the African continent to create a global centre for excellence and development.
It is what makes Microsoft what it is.
Lagos Africa Development Center launch event
Lagos Launch event
Later at the launch event, Nigeria country Manager, Akin Banuso said “our teams will help build products with global impact. We will work with local partners and customers to improve our products for the continent and beyond. This is part of our commitment to creating opportunities for every person. It is what makes Microsoft what it is.”
Microsoft executives at the launch event included Alex Kipman, Michael Fortin and Phil Spencer. It also had other Microsoft engineers and members of the new team in Lagos.
“We have chosen Kenya and Nigeria, as they present a strategic opportunity for us to better understand a continent that is rapidly adopting cloud technology and massive innovation at the intelligent edge.” Michael Fortin, Corporate Vice President, Windows
Alex Kipman
Alex Kipman, Microsoft Technical Fellow Mixed Reality and Artificial Intelligence address the gathering at the launch event.
I am incredibly proud that Africa, the cradle of civilization, now has the opportunity to define the future of computing. I’m inspired by all the creativity and energy of the startups and entrepreneurs here in Lagos, Nigeria. Microsoft will be engaging deeply with developers and universities amongst others. – Alex Kipman
Meet the founding Microsoft ADC cognition team in Lagos Nigeria.
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Firstly are you a team player? Do you have a growth mindset? Are you resourceful and customer focused? Have a demonstrated desire and ability to readily take on complex challenges and work towards solutions to seemingly unsolvable problems? Do you have passion for technology and how technology can inspire and ignite change and renewal? Finally are you Within 12 months of graduation or graduated within the last 12 months?
If you tick yes in all the categories above then Microsoft invites you to apply for a full-time opportunity. Microsoft believes “when smart people with a passion for technology get together they create things that change the world.”
Here are details on qualifications and responsibilities on Full-time Opportunity
Qualifications Applications to this opportunity are considered depending on education level and/or location. To be considered as student/recent graduate, you should be:
Within 12 months of graduation or graduated within the last 12 months.
Up to 2 years of accumulated full-time professional experience.
Passion for the technology and innovation.
Excellent verbal and written communication, analytical and presentation skills.
English language fluency.
Responsibilities We are looking for candidates that have the following qualities:
Team Player: driving digital transformation with our customers is a team sport. We need teammates who can stay maniacally focused on our customers’ satisfaction while operating in a highly-collaborative, matrixed global organization.
Growth Mindset: your life is truly about learning-it-all. You approach every new piece of information, knowledge, and competency with insatiable curiosity. Ultimately, you’re open to the ideas of others, where the success of others does not diminish your own.
Resourceful: you have the drive to overcome any obstacle in your work.
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Passion for Technology: you’re deeply motivated by the incredible opportunity of how technology can inspire and ignite change and renewal.
Microsoft Full-time Opportunity, click to apply below
Microsoft’s world wide developer focused event, Build is on the road again. Insider Dev Tour 2019 will be heading across the globe with stops in African cities. Last year the team made a stop in South Africa. This year the Insider Dev team expands it to cover more cities in Africa. The selected countries this year are Nigeria, Morocco, South Africa and Mauritius.
These events will look to bring you a crash course of the 3 day packed Microsoft Build 2019 event. The events are designed for developers of any level interested in building Microsoft 365 experiences.
Join a local event near you to get the latest in Microsoft 365 technology. There will be keynotes and demo sessions. Covering .Net Core, Microsoft Graph, Web development with NodeJS, Microsoft Developer tools, IoT Solutions and more. Through more code, demos and insights.
Event Sessions (varies by location)
Introduction to Microsoft Graph Services
Web Development with NodeJS and Microsoft Developer Tools
Embedded and IoT Solutions with Microsoft Windows IoT Core
Command Line / Terminal and Windows Subsystem for Linux
Coding your Future with the Windows Insider Program
Desktop Apps with the Microsoft Graph
UWP User Interfaces with the latest APIS and OSS libraries
Developing with the New Edge Browser
Desktop Apps with .NET Core
AI Platform / Machine Learning on Windows
Progressive Web Apps with the New Edge
NET Core 3.0
Build apps for Microsoft Teams with Microsoft Graph and Web Technology
Microsoft’s invite reads;
Get an inside peak into the future. Get insight you can use today. Join us for the Insider Dev Tour. You’ll enjoy an inside peek into some of tomorrow’s innovative dev tech, as well as practical information you can use today. Plus, you’ll gain valuable access to a peer network along with exposure to all-star devs from a wide range of tech disciplines.
Insider Dev Tour 2019 Africa events
South Africa
South Africa events will take place June 4th in Cape Town and June 6th in Johannesburg.
Microsoft is on the look out for engineering talent from across Africa to staff the Africa Development Centre(ADC). The centre will be officially launched in an event tonight. Which we will bring you more details on, so bookmark this site and stay with us. Microsoft executives of the project like Phil Spencer, CVP Gaming visited the President of Kenya ahead of the launch.
The company says it is “seeking engineering talent from across the continent to fuel AI, machine learning and mixed reality innovation.”
Hiring Local Software Engineers
Microsoft has started hiring for various roles and positions in the African Development Center. It plans to recruit about 100 full-time software engineers by the end of 2019 across the two sites in Nigeria and Kenya. Expanding this number to 500 recruits across the two sites by the year 2023. The sites include the Cognition team to be based in Lagos and the Windows team in Nairobi.
Michael Fortin, Corporate Vice President at Microsoft shares what the ADC will mean to the software engineers. He said;
“Our desire is to recruit exceptional engineering talent across the continent that will build innovative solutions for global impact. This also creates opportunities for engineers to do meaningful work from their home countries. And be plugged into a global engineering and development organisation.”
Microsoft to work with Local Universities
Microsoft will partner with some of the local universities in Africa to build its talent pipeline. By creating what it calls “a modern intelligent edge and cloud curriculum“, it says this will be “totally unique to Africa”.
Microsoft also says Graduates will have access to the ADC. Building a relevant and meaningful career in data science, AI, mixed reality, application development and many more.
UPDATE: Microsoft launches Africa Development sites in Lagos and Nairobi.
Microsoft corporation marks yet another milestone of investments and operations in Africa. In an event later today the global technology company will announce its first Development Centre in Africa. Its seventh globally. The Africa Development Centre will have two initial sites set to be located in Nigeria and Kenya. The global technology giant says it will be a long term investment in the region.
Yesterday, top Microsoft executives paid a courtesy call on the President of Kenya. Where they shared details of the project with the president. The executives shared that Microsoft plans to invest a combined expected investment of US $100 million over the first five years of operation.
Microsoft says through the Africa Development Centre it intends to invest in more cutting-edge solutions suitable for the region and the rest of the world.
Stay with us as we bring you more details about the Africa Development Centre launch event in Nairobi. What are you thoughts on this, share them with us.
