Nigeria and Africa as a whole are paramount to Microsoft’s operations, according to company president Jean-Philippe Courtois, with company interested in helping Nigeria maintain its leading role in IT development in Africa and the global market.
Courtois, who is currently on a visit to Nigeria, said Microsoft is expecting that by 2019 about 90 per cent of businesses in Nigeria will depend on IT skills, which is why Microsoft has found it expedient to equip Nigerian youths with prerequisite skills for the challenges ahead.
“This is why Microsoft had specifically rolled out programmes like 4Afrika and BizSpark initiatives targeted at software startups, not leaving behind the middle class developers,” he said.
Through the initiatives, he said 100,000 employable youths will become equipped with required skills.
“The goal of 4Afrika initiative is to empower every African who has a great idea for a business or an application and to turn that idea into a reality which in turn can help their community, their country, or even the continent at large,” he said.
He expressed delight at the enthusiasm of Nigerian developers at various incubation centres, including the CcHUB in Lagos, adding that Microsoft’s technologies are unmatchable in driving businesses and IT focus.
He said: “Microsoft has always reiterated our decision to add value to the lives of the young people in the way of skills development and acquisition. Likewise, we have solutions that companies leverage on to achieve their goal. For instance, since the launch of our Office 365 we have seen companies make significant progress moving to the cloud.
“Meanwhile, we are about the think enterprises and we also think about the individuals. For instance, the OneDrive is a very wonderful platform individuals have found to be fantastic in saving their personal data, meeting friends and achieving more. That is part of the reasons we are global leaders in enterprise solutions market.”
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