• Friday, March 29, 2024
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BusinessDay

Microsoft in Africa

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I have always had a soft spot for Microsoft, the American software giant founded by William Henry Gates, the most famous dropout from Harvard University. I once found myself at the same bus stop en face Harvard Square, where, the story goes, the undergraduate Bill Gates and his friend Paul Allen found a magazine that someone had left behind. They had been out partying until the wee hours. The magazine announced that Rank Xerox had manufactured the first desktop computer.

It was a ‘eureka moment’ for Gates. If computers were soon going to be in every household like television, he reasoned, every PC would require software to drive it. The apparently aimless young man had found, at last, his metier – his destiny. The Microsoft Corporation, with total assets in excess of $134 billion, has been at the cusp of the global digital revolution that has reshaped the very foundations of our post-war international economic order; raking in untold fortunes for Bill Gates and the bright young people that threw in their lot with him.

Bill Gates and Warren Buffett are the two businesspeople for whom I reserve the highest admiration. They made their fortunes by sheer force of brainpower. They have no prejudice as to race, religion or nationality. They have proved that, with a beautiful mind, all is possible – that you can be stupendously wealthy and still remain a cultured, decent human being. And they are using their wealth for good causes in Africa.

On Tuesday, 4th June, Microsoft brought together an array of personalities to Brussels to debate development prospects in Africa. In his introductory remarks, Fernando de Sousa, a Microsoft general manager, noted that ICT is transforming the African landscape. He noted that Africa has more than 650 million mobile phone subscribers, with the rise of mobile telephony directly accounting for the creation of more than 5 million jobs and contributing 7 percent to Africa’s GDP. Billions of dollars have been poured into the African ICT sector, leading to a 20-fold growth in Internet bandwidth and hundreds of kilometres of cables laid across the continent.

Microsoft aims to promote local innovation while expanding educational opportunities, employability skills, e-governance solution; helping to build a modern competitive knowledge economy in Africa anchored on innovation and adaptation of ICT products to local needs and priorities.

In December 2012 Microsoft launched its Youth Spark initiative, a $75 million initiative that aims to enhance digital learning access for children. More than 100 digital hubs have been opened in Africa. The scheme is expected to bring significant technology advancement to African schools, enhance holistic digital access to classrooms through deployment of devices, infrastructure, teacher training and improved learning outcomes. This in turn will provide young people with better skills for the job market while enhancing poverty alleviation and improved family incomes.

One of the latest Microsoft initiatives is the ‘4Afrika’ Initiative which aims to place tens of millions of smart devices in the hands of African youth. A particular focus is on empowering over 100,000 young graduates with world-class skills that will enable them compete in the global digital economy. The initiative is expected to drive entrepreneurship, create jobs and boost export potentials while delivering innovation and home-grown solutions.

Microsoft also used the occasion to shed more light on its Spectrum Observatory, a scheme that aims to expand wireless broadband access for individuals, businesses and communities.

It is truism that, across the world, access points and base stations are increasingly being overloaded, with pricing and affordability becoming major barriers for many potential users. Microsoft is convinced that it possesses the technology to optimise allocation and use of radio spectrum in a more dynamic, flexible and efficient manner. Several trials and commercial pilots have been launched around the world to demonstrate the potentials of the new technology.

Microsoft is becoming a major presence on the continent and a key stakeholder in its economic and technological future. Under its Shape the Future Partnership, the software giant has distributed more than 350,000 PCs in more than 20 countries since 2011. Some $24 million worth of software have been donated to NGOs and needy communities in Africa. The organisation is also supporting some 632 non-profit organisations while e-governance centres have been opened in Kenya and Mozambique. The company now boasts more than 10,000 partners on the continent over the past two decades. The firm reveals that, for every $1 in profit made by Microsoft, local partners make somewhere in the region of $9–$11 in income. More than 146,270 corporate jobs in Africa are connected directly to Microsoft. An estimated 5.3 million students throughout Africa are using the Microsoft Education Cloud programme. Some 8,885,772 teachers have been connected to the Partners in Learning Network while an estimated 19 million students in 20 countries have been impacted by the Network. Some 2,550 students have also earned technical certification through the Microsoft IT Academy. To crown it all, Microsoft was named one of the top employers in Africa for 2012/13 by the CRF Institute.

The event was attended by several personalities, among them Gilles Merritt, secretary-general of the Friends of Europe; Nicholas Westcott, managing director of the European External Action Service; Frank McCosker, Microsoft general manager for the Public Sector and International Organisations; Felix Awanbor, Nigeria’s highly able ambassador in Brussels; and several EU parliamentarians, among others.

As one of the speakers, yours sincerely welcomed the disappearance of the ‘Afro-Pessimism’ of the ‘lost decades’ and the renewal of hope that is the allure of the New Africa. Africa is one of the fastest growing regions in the world today. Democracy is gradually taking root. But there are challenges, least among them the yawning infrastructures deficit and the crisis of youth unemployment. To be a meaningful player, Microsoft will have to engage with Africa for the long haul. African policymakers, on their part, must advance policies that encourage innovation and that place a high premium on science and technology. 

 

Chef de Cabinet, African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States.