Microsoft launches African Development Center in Lagos

Microsoft Corporation, an American global technology company that specializes in making computer software, personal computers, and related services recently opened its first African Development Center (ADC) in Lagos, Nigeria.

The ADC is Microsoft's project for an engineering center in Africa that will offer solutions with global scalability, as well as create jobs and advance technical innovation on the continent.

Software engineering solutions are intended to be delivered to Africa from the center, which is a $100 million investment by the multibillion-dollar corporation.

The product engineering, ecosystem development, and innovation teams will now be housed in the company's new ultra-modern state-of-the-art facility at the Kings Towers on Glover Road, Ikoyi, according to the company's announcement at the inaugural event on Monday.

The Microsoft Garage, which is a new entity formed as part of ongoing efforts to expand innovation in the ICT industry, will be housed at the new ADC building.

The minister of communications and digital economy in Nigeria, Isa Pantami was present to officially launch the facility.

Also present at the launch was Kashifu Inuwa, director-general of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), as the governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu was represented as well.

Pantami applauded the milestone, saying it reinforces Nigeria's position as a major regional digital innovation center and puts the country on track to becoming Africa's largest digital economy.

The commissioner of science and technology, Hakeem Fahm who represented the governor of Lagos State said “I join several Nigerians and Lagosians today in applauding Microsoft’s commitment to developing the tech in our state and country through this state-of-the-art 7-floor facility, which will improve employment and also contribute significantly to the training and rise of many tech giants in Nigeria.”

The facility, according to Gafar Lawal, who is the managing director of ADC West Africa, will maintain the company's efforts to train, equip, and hire engineering talent in Nigeria and throughout West Africa.

“Engineers have already started working, and we intended to recruit 500 full-time engineers by the end of the year by 2023. However, currently, we have exceeded 500. This is to tell you about the abundance of talents we have in Africa.” he said.

He added that “to build its talent pipeline, Microsoft ADC is also partnering with local universities to create a modern intelligent edge and cloud curriculum, totally unique to Africa.”...“Graduates will have access to the ADC to build a relevant and meaningful career in data science, AI, mixed reality, application development and many more”

As he made his contributions at the launch, he added that the facility would also aid the “development of Microsoft products that are in use by over one billion devices and empowering millions of users and organizations across the world to do more.”

Joy Chik, corporate vice-president of Microsoft's identity and network access engineering team, stated the ADC presently boasts of 120 engineers and more than 200 total employees in Nigeria, as she went on to speak about the center's plans.

She added, “Based on the great feedback we have received from engineering leads working with teams in Nigeria, we are definitely going to hire more engineering talent.” Stating also “We will continue to focus on student and community engagements, as well as investments in Microsoft programs, that will help us build a diverse team of talented men and women.”

During the May 2019 introduction of this center, Microsoft Corporate Vice President Michael Fortin made it known that the company's goal is to recruit exceptional engineering talent and provide opportunities to work on cutting-edge technologies fit for Kenya, Nigeria, and the rest of the world.

According to him, engineers will also have meaningful work from their various home nations while being connected to a worldwide engineering and development organization.

With Microsoft’s presence expanding in Africa, partners and consumers will benefit as they use Microsoft technology in major African businesses including AgriTech, FinTech, and OffGrid energy.