Nigeria’s IT Ecosystemheld in High-Courtois by Microsoft

Microsoft is interested in Nigeria maintaining its
leading role in IT development, not only in Africa,
but in the global market, said Jean-Philippe
Courtois, president, Microsoft International on his
significant visit to the country.
Courtois said that with the expectations that in
the next five years 80-90% businesses in Nigeria
will depend on IT skills, Microsoft believes it’s
expedient to prepare the youths with pre-
requisite skills for the challenges ahead.
He said that the software company, now with proclivity for mobile devices, had specifically
rolled out programmes like 4Afrika and BizSpark initiatives targeted at software startups, not leaving behind the middle class developers.
The result, he maintained, electrified interests among the developers as Microsoft targets 100,000 employable youths to be equipped with skills through the process.

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. The Microsoft’s President who expressed delight over the enthusiasm expressed by developers at incubation centers in the country like Cc-Hub, Lagos, said that Microsoft have always seen Nigeria and Africa as paramount in its operation, adding that the Corporation’s technologies are unmatchable in driving businesses and countries’ IT focus.
“Microsoft has always reiterated our decision to add values 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 about the think enterprises and we also think about the individuals. For instance, the Sky Drive (Skpe) 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 web are global leaders in enterprise solutions market,” he said.
He added that with the assumption of office by Satya Nadella, new Microsoft’s CEO, the company’s strategy in the cloud computing space will be more interesting following Nadella’s background and managerial competence.
He also hinted on the completion of Nokia acquisition plan by Microsoft which will position the Corporation to play big in the mobile devices space.