Microsoft Partners Co-Creation Hub, Announces #WINsiders4good Fellowship

Microsoft and Co-Creation Hub (CcHUB) on Wednesday announced a new partnership in entrepreneurial mentorship and support through technology with the launch of Windows Insiders for Good (#WINsiders4Good) Fellowship at the CcHUB office in Yaba, Lagos.

The announcement marks the first step by the program to deepen its relationship with Africa, starting with Nigeria. 

The partnership with Co-Creation Hub is meant to open opportunities to Nigerian entrepreneurs who have brilliant ideas that they want to use to change their world.

As such, the Winsiders4Good fellowship will support twenty Nigerian entrepreneurs seeking to improve the lives of Nigerians.

According Bambo Sofola,  director of Software Engineering, Microsoft Corp, WINsiders4Good focuses on how to use technology to solve complex problems.  “We have thousands of Windows Insiders in Nigeria, and tens of thousands across Africa. We want to collaborate more closely with them and other Windows users to make this a truly international product. One in seven Africans is Nigerian, computer usage is soaring, and tech centers like Yaba represent a manifestation of that growth. We think it is a great time and place to learn from like-minded techies and entrepreneurs who are solving complex problems and creating opportunities in Lagos and greater Nigeria,” Sofola stated.

Application for the WINsiders4Good Fellowship is on and will close on 10th October 2016.  Nigerians seeking to apply should visit winsiderfellows.com for more information and the application form.

Entrepreneurs who qualify for the Fellowship program will receive Microsoft hardware, software and six months of tailored technical mentorship to help bring their innovative ideas to life, while also allowing them to collaborate with the world’s largest community of people who use simple technology to solve problems.

Confirming this, Sofola stated that “Microsoft and CcHUB will connect entrepreneurs to a global community of people like them, prioritize and fix the technical issues that can hinder them from reaching their goal, provide mentors for technical and strategic questions for six months, and provide hardware and software to bring their ideas to life.”

Speaking alongside Bambo Sofola, Femi Longe, co-founder, Co-Creation Hub (CcHUB), noted that the future of young Nigerians is in technology and there is every need to create platforms that will help them access and conquer their future needs and challenges.

“Collaborating with Microsoft will allow entrepreneurs across Nigeria to expand their possibilities, while exposing them to other entrepreneurs in the global space, which will eventually increase their competitive chances,” Longe said.

Microsoft  is the leading platform and productivity company for the mobile-first, cloud-first world, and its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.

While CcHUB is Nigeria’s first open living lab and pre-incubation space designed to be a multi-functional, multi-purpose space where work to catalyse creative social tech ventures take place.

The HUB is a place for technologists, social entrepreneurs, government, tech companies, impact investors and hackers in and around Lagos to co-create new solutions to the many social problems in Nigeria.