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Nigeria: Nigeria's Market, Strategic for Innovative Operations, Says Microsoft Boss |
| Source: |
Google Alert |
| Source Date: |
Friday, March 28, 2014 |
| Focus: |
ICT for MDGs
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| Country: |
Nigeria |
| Created: |
Mar 28, 2014 |
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Starting from July 1, this year, Nigeria will become a single country subsidiary, reporting directly to Microsoft’s Middle East and Africa operations, and again, the Microsoft 4Afrika Initiative is particularly focused on Nigeria and few other countries in Africa,brith Nigeria serving as a major hub for Microsoft on the continent.
The Microsoft 4Africa Initiative started in Nigeria with 18 interns, with another 50, which are with Galaxy Backbone, of which 75 per cent will end up in Microsoft's ecosystem after the training, Courtois said, while addressing journalists during his visit.
Speaking on the investments of Microsoft in most African countries, Courtois said
Microsoft Incorporation invested fresh $75 million in various investments in Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya and other African countries, and that Nigeria had a fair share of that investment deal, which cuts across technology access, innovation, skills development, youth empowerments, software development, and digital curriculum among others.
He explained that Microsoft was leveraging the windows platform to gain market share, and because of the immense contributions of the Nigerian market to Microsoft operations globally, the country’s status would continue to be uplifted.
He said the software company would soon unveil its new Country Manager for Nigeria, in person of Kabelo Makwane, a South African.
Fielding questions from journalists on the Microsoft 4Afrika Initiative, Courtois said: "The Microsoft 4Afrika Initiative is centered around three things. It is for providing access to tens of millions of youths in mobile and cloud services, using most of the advanced research plan like the television white space in providing local broadband access to a majority of people; Training of hundreds of thousands of graduates in digital skills and providing employment portals for those without jobs to tap into; and innovativeness in creative applications that will solve basic challenges, and we want to be at the forefront in driving this initiative."
Through the company’s 4Afrika Initiative and YouthSpark programme, Microsoft has committed to helping millions of Africans get critical skills for entrepreneurship and employability. The 4Afrika Scholarship programme is one way the company intends to meet that goal, by helping ensure that promising youth have access to the education, resources and skills they need to succeed, regardless of their financial situations, he said, adding that to help redress gender disparity in higher education in Africa, Microsoft actively encouraged young women to apply for the initiative.
Microsoft had last year announced that it would provide 4Afrika Scholarships to 1,000 youth to pursue associate degrees in computer science and business administration with the first participating higher-education institution, University of the People. The institution is an online university dedicated to the democratization of higher education and it is affiliated to the United Nations, the Clinton Global Initiative, New York University, and the Yale Law School Information Society Project.
On the planned acquisition of Nokia by Microsoft, Courtois said Microsoft had last year announced it bought over Nokia, but that the acquisition process was still on going and would soon be completed.
"Both firms are working on some regulatory structure for now. When the deal is completed, Nokia’s Chief Executive Officer, Stephen Elop will head the device division at Microsoft," he added.
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Nigeria: Nigeria's Market, Strategic for Innovative Operations, Says Microsoft Boss Nigeria's market is big and strategic for software innovations according to the President of Microsoft International Jean-Philippe Courtois who was on a working visit to Nigeria He said because of the huge market Microsoft Nigeria has been elevated as a full blown subsidiary to directing the African operations of the company We see Nigeria as a big hub for growth of technology innovation in Africa and that is the reason Microsoft focuses its 4Africa initiative on Nigeria from where it will reach other African countries he said According to him Microsoft has been in Nigeria for quite some time now Our presence in Nigeria has helped in motivating the software industry in country and has also created employment opportunities for many Nigerians
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