by Sylvester Addo | Sep 18, 2017 | 4Afrika, General, Microsoft Africa
Microsoft 4Afrika has signed a partnership with Tony Elumelu Foundation to provide Technology and skills support to Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurs across Africa.
Entrepreneurs in the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurs program will benefit from technology tools, resources and mentorship in this partnership project. The mission is to help these entrepreneurs use ICT effectively to modernize their businesses and reach new customers.
Microsoft says “The support will be available across the continent through both virtual and in person experiences”.
Microsoft 4Afrika will also take the opportunity to identify highly potential entrepreneurs from the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme and integrate them into its Innovation Grant Programme.
During the The Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Forum in Lagos in October, Microsoft will training them on Microsoft it’s technologies.
Speaking about the partnership Microsoft Nigeria country manger Akin Banuso said;
“Microsoft 4Afrika and the Tony Elumelu Foundation share a common goal to accelerate economic and social development by promoting entrepreneurship.
As we enter into an era of digital transformation, it’s vital that we help all entrepreneurs develop relevant technology skills and integrate ICT into their businesses. Technology can help SMEs reach customers outside their local markets, generate powerful business insights and improve their customer retention.
We have found that SMEs who adopt this kind of modern IT have seen 15% faster revenue growth than those not using it.”
Some of the benefits Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurs will get from Microsoft 4Afrika’s partnership include:
• Access to cloud-based software, online support and technology through BizSpark
• Access to information and markets through the Biz4Afrika platform, where SMEs can trade with similar-sized organisations
• Technical training on Microsoft technologies and platforms during the 2017 TEF Forum
• Online business and technology training through the Microsoft Virtual Academy, to support entrepreneurs through their start-up, growth and acceleration phases
• Access to Microsoft experts for virtual and in-person mentorship through the MySkills4Afrika programme
• Access to the Interns4Afrika programme, for entrepreneurs to access and build their talent pipeline
Speaking on the partnership Parminder Vir OBE, CEO, Tony Elumelu Foundation said;
“With Microsoft on-board, we’re adding an essential ICT platform and partner to this mix, which will help to strengthen the capacity of our entrepreneurs, ensuring they remain relevant and competitive.”
Microsoft’s partnership will upskill about 3000 Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurs across the African continent. It will also give 4Afrika the opportunity to reach thousands of SMEs.
Visit Microsoft 4Afrika and the Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme for more information.
What are your thoughts on the offerings and partnership? Share with us.
by Sylvester Addo | Sep 13, 2017 | Events, General
Microsoft Tech Summit 2018 the premier event for It professionals and developers is coming to Cape Town, South Africa
Microsoft’s premier event for IT professionals and developers is coming to Cape Town, South Africa in 2018. The mostly technical learning event usually features more than 45 technical training sessions. Topics will range from Microsoft Azure, the hybrid platform including security, networking, data, storage, identity, mobile, cloud infrastructure, management, app platform, Office 365, Windows 10 and productivity.
Tech Summit is a free two day technical training event for IT professionals and developers with experts who build the cloud services across Microsoft Azure, Office 365 and Windows 10. The event will take place February 13- 14th 2018. Registration is currently scheduled to start from November 15th 2017.
There’ll be opportunities to speak to the experts and receive hands on help. You’ll also have the opportunity to trial and test some of these solutions at the Hands-on Labs. There’ll also be various sessions to shop during the 2 day events.
Last years event took place in Johannesburg and it was such a great time. Speaker details and sessions aren’t out yet. Do check back as we will have the updated information once released.
Interested in attending Microsoft Tech Summit 2018 Cape Town? Save the date and register when it opens. Also follow Microsoft Tech Summit events on social platforms with the hashtag #MSTechSummit and #TechSummitSA . Tell us what you’ll be expecting and hoping to experience if you are headed there.
Update:
Registration is opened.
by Sylvester Addo | Sep 12, 2017 | Microsoft, Microsoft Africa, Microsoft South Africa
Mahala is a Microsoft education initiative that provides students with access to free Microsoft Office 365 and 1TB of OneDrive
Speaking at LEADEREX 2017 event, Microsoft South Africa MD spoke about many initiatives including Mahala.
Mahala is an education partnership between Microsoft South Africa and 2enable. The initiative seeks to offer all South African school learners from the ages of 8 and above free access to Microsoft Office across all their devices as well as 1TB of OneDrive storage.
Microsoft South Africa says; with the platform, we have simplified the process for signing up for Office 365 for Education. We have extended the benefits that we supply. By using the Mahala.MS platform to register you will receive the following;
- Install of Office 365 Pro Plus (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote & Outlook) across multiple different devices across all platforms (iOS, Android & Windows)
- 1TB of OneDrive storage
- Office Online applications that work across all browsers (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote & Sway)
So what’s the difference between signing up via Microsoft Education and Mahala.ms? Microsoft SA says;
We’ve simplified the signup process to remove blockers such as lack of Academic email address. We have extended the benefits to include the installed version of Office instead of limiting to web access only.
How and what do you need to get started?
You must be a full or part-time student at an academic institution in South Africa, between the ages of 8 and 22. You will need the following information while signing up on the platform.
- South African ID number (can be found on the birth certificate or ID book)
- Internet access
- Private email address, used for correspondence of Mahala.MS log in details.
What will happen when the access expires? If you are still eligible, you can re-apply. But if it’s not your documents will still be available to view but not editable.
Visit the Mahala page and register for the offer. Are you in South Africa and excited about this? Tell us what you think in the comments.
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Check out other stories making the news in the technology ecosystem in Africa and the Middle East.
by Sylvester Addo | Sep 12, 2017 | General, Microsoft Africa, Microsoft South Africa
Microsoft South Africa Managing Director, Zoaib Hoosen speaks on digital innovation and digital transformation at LEADEREX 2017.
Zoaib Hoosen shared on Microsoft’s vision and plan for digital transformation. A trend the company has been in, in recent times. The event held at the Sandton Convention Centre brought together business leaders, professionals and entrepreneurs.
Microsoft South Africa’s Managing Director, Zoaib Hoosen spoke on the future of digital business and digital transformation. This was during discussions on Digital Innovation and Developing Digital Skills in South Africa panels at LEADEREX 2017.
We partner with other companies to make an impact in the community. Microsoft build things to help people build things. – Zoaib Hoosen
He said technology has accelerated over the years and in the 4th Industrial Revolution we can use tech to make a real change in the world. The 4th Industrial Revolution is truly a revolution with new skills being developed every day to do the job. We partner with other companies to make an impact in the community. Microsoft build things to help people build things.
An important part of digital transformation is how you transform the way you deliver your product to the customer. Digital transformation has to be clearly aligned to marketing, to transform products and offerings. You have to modernize your internal IT structure if you are going to take advantage of digital opportunities.
So much can be achieved today to solve real problems in the world. – Zoaib Hoose
There is a big gap between graduating and finding a job. We started a program called Student2Business to help with this. The Student2Business program helps graduates find an internship and gain working experiencing. Over the past years we have been able to help place 9000 young people.
We all need to work together to help solve the digital skills problem in South Africa. Our AppFactory is one initiative.
We are collecting data every day in everything we do. In a way, we are all Data Scientists. Have you ever used Excel? Then you can manipulate data and you are working on your skills as a Data Scientist.
How do we train teachers so they can teach with the help of technology? You can’t remove a teacher from the classroom, we created a program, Minecraft Education, which teach them how to use technology to teach.
by Sylvester Addo | Sep 11, 2017 | General, Microsoft, Microsoft Africa
MicrosoftYacine Barro nommé nouveau Country Manager pour les régions Afrique de l’ouest et du Centre (WCA)
Après quelques années de départ de Microsoft, Yacine Barro revient à la tête du Microsoft WCA.
C’est un grand honneur pour moi de rejoindre Microsoft et surtout de diriger l’équipe WCA. Je crois fermement que Microsoft est l’une des meilleures entreprises au monde. Dans la façon dont il habilite les gens et nous permet de faire une différence.
L’Afrique de l’Ouest et du Centre a un énorme potentiel et nous avons le défi passionnant d’aider à développer la région grâce à la technologie, en augmentant ce qu’elle peut offrir au reste du monde. Je me sens vraiment ravi d’en faire partie, “- Yacine Barro.
Microsoft welcomes Yacine Barro as new Country Manager for West and Central Africa
Microsoft has appointed Yacine Barro as Country Manager for West and Central Africa (WCA). Barro, who returns to Microsoft after serving as Business Development Manager for Microsoft WCA between 2004 and 2006, will be based in Dakar, Senegal.
“It’s a great honour for me to join Microsoft and particularly to lead the WCA Team. I strongly believe that Microsoft is one of best companies in the world. In the way it empowers people and enables us to make a difference. West and Central Africa has enormous potential and we have the exciting challenge to help grow the region through technology, increasing what it can offer the rest of the world. I feel truly thrilled to be part of it,” – Yacine Barro.
“We have the utmost confidence in Yacine and we are certain that under her leadership, the team will continue to accelerate the organisation’s cloud drive on the continent, increase digital transformation and maintain our customer focused culture across countries in the region,” says Amr Kamel, General Manager for Microsoft West, East, Central Africa and Indian Ocean Islands.
