Microsoft, the American multinational technology corporation, has opened its African Development Center (ADC) in Lagos, Nigeria.
The Center is Microsoft’s effort to provide local solutions with global scalability, enhance technological innovations on the continent, and offer employment opportunities.
Isa Pantami, minister of communications and digital economy, Kashifu Inuwa, director-general of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), and Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Lagos state governor, officially launched the AD Center on March 14th, 2022.
During the launch ceremony, the company said the center would be in its new ultra-modern state-of-the-art 7-floor facility at the Kings Towers on Glover Road, Ikoyi.
It will house an ecosystem development team, product engineering team, innovation teams, and the new Microsoft Garage.
The Garage is set up as an informal workspace where interns, Microsoft employees, schools, and community groups can find and explore the tools or training needed to launch products, learn skills and collaborate.
Gafar Lawal, the ADC West Africa managing director, said the facility would promote Microsoft’s efforts to train, equip, and hire engineering talents in Nigeria and West Africa.
Also, he said it would contribute to the “growth of Microsoft products that are being used by over 1 billion devices and empower millions of users and organizations across the world to do more”.
Speaking on ADC’s future goals, Joy Chik, corporate vice-president of the identity and network access engineering team at Microsoft, said the center currently has about 120 engineers and more than 200 employees in Nigeria.
“Based on the excellent feedback we received from engineering leads working with teams in Nigeria, we will hire more engineering talent and continue to focus on student and community engagements, investments in Microsoft programs that will help build a diverse team of talented women and men.”
In May 2019, Microsoft revealed its plan of establishing the ADC in Nigeria and Kenya to create innovative technology for Africa and the entire world.
After that, there was a call for talented engineers to work on artificial intelligence, machine learning, and mixed reality. The company committed to investing $100 million in the first five years of operation.
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Image Source – Microsoft
