explain that we have chosen to start our expansive roll-out in certain markets due to business opportunities, available resources on-the-ground, and a desire to start in established “hub” markets which are regionally influential. That said, we are constantly working to broaden our reach to as many markets as possible in Africa. What in the end does Microsoft hope to achieve? With the 4Afrika Initiative, we are focused on economic development and a set of commercial partners with whom we share goals around employability and economic growth. Our aim is to provide the most impactful set of economic development enablers to the continent so as to trigger waves of innovation, global competitiveness and world class skills and solutions. These enablers are investments such as the App Factories, the 4Afrika Academy and an investment climate for start-ups and SMEs. Overall growth in employability, skills development, smart device penetration, a thriving SME population, and youth empowerment will be reflected in an economically superior Africa and a growing market for our products and services. The 4Afrika promotional material barely mentions Microsoft’s core commercial products and services. How then do you balance between business development and social initiatives? Microsoft’s work in citizenship is founded in the principles of corporate social responsibility, and primarily targets underserved communities and K-12 education. Much of our citizenship works takes the form of software donations and aid to social development partners including NGOs, aid agencies and community centres. With the 4Afrika Initiative, we are focused on economic development and a set of commercial partners with whom we share goals around employability and economic growth. Our goals with 4Afrika are designed to link the growth of our business with initiatives that accelerate growth for the continent.
Discuss some of the SME projects under the 4Afrika initiative One of our core goals with the 4Afrika Initiative is to bring 1 million African small and medium enterprises (SMEs) online by 2016. We’re approaching this goal from many angles, for example, providing internet access to communities like the Rift Valley in Kenya. We are also creating an online hub for SMEs in Morocco and South Africa, specifically designed to aggregate all the best resources – both IT and nonIT resources – available to them in their market. Our goal is to bring together in one convenient location the best products and services available to SMEs to help them communicate, collaborate, manage their business, trade, and improve their overall competitiveness. We are starting with these two countries because both have strong governmental support for and emphasis on the development of small businesses, and are looking to expand into other markets in the coming months. Recently we also partnered with the
South African Jobs Fund to extend Microsoft’s BizSpark programme to help accelerate 500 new South African tech start-ups and are also actively working on some other exiting options related to venture capital funding for African startups more broadly across the continent. If possible, please mention how much money Microsoft is investing in the 4Afrika initiative To achieve the targets we’ve laid out for the 4Afrika Initiative, Microsoft is investing approximately $75M incrementally, in addition to our current annual investments, into the African continent over the next three years. Microsoft has been doing business in Africa for 20 years. With the 4Afrika Initiative in mind, what would you want the next 20 to look like? In the next 20 years we foresee affordable smart devices available to nearly all Africans,with the infrastructure in place to provide access to information, educational tools, and IT skills essential for employability.
Aug/Sept 2013 | The Integrator East Africa
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