Browsing: microsoft

• Tech giant Microsoft plans to expand its Airband partnerships to provide high-speed internet access to people in Latin America and Africa.
• Microsoft is also targeting Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Guatemala and Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda with high-speed internet.
• Limited access to broadband means that people have fewer opportunities to develop the digital skills necessary in digital economy. 

Microsoft plans to expand its Airband partnerships to provide high-speed internet access to nearly 40 million people across Latin America and Africa.

In Africa, Microsoft Airband Initiative General Manager Vickie Robinson says firm will extend partnerships in Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda. Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Guatemala will be targetd in South America. This marks significant progress in the firm’s mission to extend high-speed internet access to 250 million people globally. The deal will primarily target populations in unserved and underserved areas. Across Africa, about 100 million are set to …

• Microsoft announced plans to deliver internet access through satellite to 10 million people, half of whom will live in Africa
• Microsoft and Viasat will work together to develop and test technologies, such as fixed wireless and satellites 
• Microsoft and Viasat will offer connectivity and digital literacy to improve healthcare, education, and economic productivity. 

Microsoft has announced plans to deliver internet access through satellite to 10 million people, half of whom will live in Africa, as part of its initiative to bridge the digital divide with the developing world.

At a Summit with African leaders in Washington, DC, hosted by President Joe Biden, the tech giant said it would commence the satellite project immediately, prioritising internet connection for the first time to Egypt, Senegal and Angola.

Microsoft announced plans to extend its operations in Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo and provide internet connectivity in more remote parts …

The project emphasises that young people are starting businesses, which is essential to meeting our lofty employment goals.

Through a public-private partnership model, the alliance aims to assist the creation of national institutions that will scale up financial and technical support for young entrepreneurs and increase their capabilities.

The African Development Bank created the Youth Entrepreneurship Investment Bank as a unique value proposition that integrates and anchors work to create African entrepreneurship ecosystems.

The bank will coordinate the necessary financial and non-financial parties and partners through this project to fulfil their responsibilities for supporting young entrepreneurs through mentoring, training, experience and knowledge exchange, and other means.…

In the future, Adanian Labs wants to get past the current phase, in which the flow of deals around the world is slowing down, and rise to power more start-ups and take over more markets across the continent.

In just two years, Adanian Labs has expanded out of Kenya and into Tanzania, Zambia, South Africa, and Nigeria, which are some of Africa’s biggest start-up and tech hubs.

It wants to have a presence all over Africa by 2025, and it is working hard to help build 300 companies in the next five years. In the meantime, the lab plans to set up shop in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Senegal, and the Ivory Coast. It is also thinking about using a franchise model to speed up its growth.

Adanian Labs start-ups can easily expand into other markets because they can use the existing infrastructure of the venture studio as …

• The Google product development centre in Nairobi has been launched weeks after Visa set up its first innovation centre in Africa
• Google, Microsoft and Visa join Cisco and Philips in setting up innovation centres strengthening Kenya’s Silicon Savannah moniker
• Visa’s innovation studio is the first in Africa and the sixth globally

The Google product development centre in Nairobi, Kenya has launched just two weeks after Visa set up its first innovation centre for the co-creation of payment and commerce solutions with partners.

Google, Microsoft and Visa join Cisco and Philips in setting up innovation centres strengthening Kenya’s Silicon Savannah moniker and as a tech investment hub in East Africa.

The tech giant’s facility, the first of its kind on the continent, is to create products and services that will have a significant impact on the African continent and beyond.

Besides the research and development centre, Microsoft has also …

• 2021 was a significant year for venture-backed companies worldwide, investing more than US$ 675B into startups globally, with more than US$5B allocated to African startups
• VCs have been keenly eyeing a spectrum of sectors from fintech, edtech, biotech, health tech, insurtech, mobility, logistics, e-commerce, crypto, connectivity, proptech, software and mobile commerce
• A report from Partech further reveals that more than 600 tech companies in Africa, raised US$5.2B from venture capitalists in 2021. 

Striking whilst the iron is hot, is the shrewd move that Venture Capitalists (VC) are making, to seize opportunities presented by the lucrative African Startup ecosystem that is burgeoning by the day; heralded by the massive technology wave sweeping across the continent, a prominent harbinger that the fourth industrial revolution is but within grasp.
Currently, Africa boasts of a myriad of VC-backed startups, with big investors like Jeff Bezos sinking tentacles into this frontier, that has seen the …

Over 30 million people from 249 countries and territories have been helped by Microsoft to acquire relevant digital skills owing to the evolving technological job market. Microsoft has surpassed its initial goal of helping 25 million last year in June. Microsoft is also extending the company’s commitment to help 250,000 companies make a skills-based hire in 2021.

Since the outbreak of Covid-19 many companies, state public departments to private owned factories saw many employers lose their jobs due to financial restraints brought about by the pandemic. From this laid-off factory workers to retail associates and truck drivers, millions of people worldwide have since turned to online learning courses from GitHub, LinkedIn, and Microsoft during the pandemic to help prepare for and secure the most in-demand roles, including customer service, project management and data analysis.

The announcement, detailed on the Official Microsoft Blog, builds on the company’s efforts to help people …

The U.S. Department of State gathered a group of private sector representatives to explore investment and collaborative business opportunities in Ethiopia, during the Global Entrepreneurship Week.

A week was spent by the Partnership Opportunity Delegation (POD) engaging with government leaders, private sector entities and Ethiopian entrepreneurs to understand the challenges and opportunities facing Ethiopian innovators and share expertise on how the country can better provide an enabling environment for tech and startups. The delegation included more than 15 companies representing Japan, United States and Sweden.

Also Read: Awash Bank, USAID to help small Agribusinesses in Ethiopia

The Office of Global Partnerships led the POD in exploring opportunities in various sectors of the Ethiopian economy such as digital connectivity, Fintech, creative industry and startups. From these first-hand engagements, several delegates committed to supporting Ethiopia’s economy in tangible ways through workforce development, social entrepreneurship, startup investment, exploring opportunities for telecom privatization …

The world top-notch technology firm Microsoft and African Development Bank (AfDB) have launched the digital training platform for African youth, named –Coding for Employment.

The platform is expected to provide digital skills to youth.

According to the a statement from the AfDB, the platform was launched during the 2019 African Economic Conference in Sharm El Sheikh- Egypt, with the sole aim of promoting a continuous learning culture among young people and build their capacity to share the future of the continent.

Africa has nearly 420 million youth, which almost one-third of them are unemployed and 10 to 12 million youth enter the workforce every year to find only 3.1 million jobs created, hence—AfDB data show that, by 2050 youth in Africa will double to 830 million.

The African Development Bank Group is Africa’s premier development finance institution, with a rather strong foothold in supporting African nation’s development initiatives. It …

Microsoft has appointed Harvard trained Jack Ngare as the managing director Africa Development Centre in Kenya that the company launched in May 2019.

With more than 15 years of experience in various business functions, Ngare joins Microsoft from Finserve Africa part of Equity Group where he served as managing director.

Ngare brings a wealth of in-depth knowledge around topics like management, telecommunications, financial services and emerging technology. Prior to his work at Finserve Africa, Ngare held the position at Stanbic Bank, NIC Bank, as well as spending seven years at British Telecom with assignments in the UK, Saudi Arabia, Peru and Japan.

He holds a Master’s degree in management from Harvard University, a Master’s degree in advanced computer science and a Bachelor’s degree in computer science from the University of Leicester.

“The ADC is unlike any other existing investment on the continent, helping us better listen to our customers, develop …