Microsoft has today announced strategic cooperation agreements with three incubator hubs across Africa in a bid to enable startups, innovator and developer communities acquire skills to build their enterprises.
The agreements with CcHUB in Nigeria, DTBi in Tanzania and AfriLabs have been signed under the Microsoft 4Afrika initiative.
According to Microsoft the cooperation will help the hubs increase access to software, skills development opportunities and access to capital investment.
Speaking at DEMO Africa 2013 vice chair of the 4Afrika Advisory Council and managing director of Microsoft South Africa Mteto Nyati said the programme will continue to support African youth exploit boundless potential in the continent.
“Microsoft sees boundless potential in African youth, developers and entrepreneurs, and we view the collaborative efforts with these innovation hubs across the continent as strategic and crucial opportunities for us to extend our support to their ecosystems,” he said.
The partnership will also see the hubs benefit from international outreach, enabling them to scale up their businesses.
“Through the 4Afrika Initiative, we are deeply committed to helping accelerate African innovation, and we hope these efforts will help us reach more people who are looking to turn their great ideas into a reality that can empower their community, their country and Africa at large,” Nyati said.
Microsoft will support each startup community with Microsoft Bizspark memberships and access to business networking and capital investment opportunities. It will also provide its devices for testing applications and other software developed by the local IT communities.
The cooperation will also see the hub members benefit from the 4Afrika programme through internships as well as the 4Afrika volunteer programme, which will see employees from the multinational train and mentor startups.
The partnership with AfriLabs will also support the development of sustainable and scalable working environments across the continent.
In this regard Microsoft will work with AfriLabs to help startups in the incubation hubs become successful technology companies driven by innovation, employability, competitiveness and growth.
HumanIPO reported earlier this month Microsoft had partnered with accelerator programme 88mph to extend its Ventures programme.
