Microsoft to provide $100m to Build Development Centers in Africa

Multinational technology company, Microsoft Corporation, has unveiled plans to open two Development Centres – one in Nairobi, Kenya, and the other one in Lagos, Nigeria. The Redmond tech giant announced that over the course of the next five years, they will be spending more than $100 million to open multiple development centres in Africa.

A total of 100 developers will be hired full-time at the two locations by the end of 2019, who will work on cloud-based projects, as well as artificial intelligence (AI) and mixed reality (AR/VR).

Microsoft has also mentioned its plans to bring a total of 500 people on board by 2023.

“The ADC will be unlike any other existing investment on the continent. It will help us better listen to our customers, develop locally and scale for global impact. Beyond that, it’s an opportunity to engage further with African partners, academia, governments and developers – driving impact and innovation in sectors important to Africa.” The executive vice president Phil Spencer said in Nairobi.

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta also took the opportunity to welcome Microsoft, saying that Kenya wants to make itself Microsoft’s ‘African home’.

Cloud technology companies like Microsoft, Amazon.com Inc. and Huawei Technologies Co. are looking to expand in Africa to take advantage of growing telecommunications infrastructure and work in areas like e-commerce and mobile payments. Cloud rival Amazon, whose Amazon Web Services is larger than Microsoft’s Azure, has also indicated it will open a data center in Africa next year.