Microsoft launches first $100 million African Development Centre in Lagos

Tech giant Microsoft has launched its much anticipated African Development Centre (ADC) in Lagos, Nigeria. The center, a $100 million investment by the multi-billion dollar firm, is expected to produce software engineering solutions provided to Africa.

The hub, which Microsoft created alongside the one in Nairobi, Kenya, will be the first to be opened in Africa and is another sign of the continent’s growing importance as a global hub for talent.

Located at King Towers in Ikoyi Lagos, the Africa Development Centre will house Microsoft teams working on product engineering, ecosystem development, innovation, and the Microsoft Garage.

In a statement, Microsoft said, “We desire to recruit exceptional engineering talent across the continent that will build innovative solutions for global impact. This also creates opportunities for engineers to do meaningful work from their home countries and be plugged into a global engineering and development organization,”

The ADC West Africa, Microsoft’s 7th globally, serves as a premier center of engineering for Microsoft in the region, where world-class African talent can create solutions for local and global impact.

Nigeria’s Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, officially launched the facility in the company of other dignitaries, including the DG of Nigeria’s National Information Technology Development Agency, Kashifu Inuwa, the Governor of Lagos, Babajide Sanwoolu, Chief Executive Officer of Main One Cable Company, Funke Opeke and Chairman of Zinox Group, Leo Stan Ekeh.

Commenting on the launch, Joy Chik, Corporate Vice President, Identity Division at Microsoft, said the center’s launch signals Microsoft’s commitment to be at the forefront of Africa’s technological development.

“Having spent over two decades on the continent, the next step in our journey in Africa was to better understand a continent rapidly growing in youthful population and talent pool as well as adopting technology in the cloud and at the edge. We launched the ADC in Nairobi, Kenya and Lagos, Nigeria to help us better listen to our customers, develop locally and scale for global impact.”

As part of its bid to support the development of essential engineering skills, Microsoft also partnered with local universities to create a modern intelligent edge and cloud curriculum unique to Africa. As a result, graduates from top Nigerian engineering universities have access to the ADC to build relevant and meaningful careers in data science, AI, mixed reality, application development, etc.