E-Business
Microsoft Reaffirms Commitment to Promote New Frontier of Skills in the Wake of COVID-19 Pandemic
Microsoft, in an effort to not only reaffirm its commitment to enabling the continent to achieve more through digital transformation with technology as a key vector, but also to forge commitment to assisting local economies during the pandemic.
This was disclosed in a roundtable meeting, it hosted in Lagos to discuss how the rampant digital transformation accelerated by COVID-19 has impacted skills demand.
It’s no longer news that COVID-19 pandemic has had unprecedented impact on organisations and industries the world over. While digital transformation has presented a call to action to entire industries to upskill and reskill, the onset of COVID-19 is said to have impacted the jobs of up to 80 million people.
As economies slowly start to reopen, jobs that were impacted and lost at the start of the global lockdowns, may now not exist.
Speaking at the roundtable event, Akin Banuso–country manager, Microsoft Nigeria noted that COVID-19 has dramatically accelerated the pace of digital transformation and as a result of this, digital skills are required immediately.
“According to our research, by 2025 digital job capacity will mean the creation of 149 million new jobs.
“Further to this, 800 million people will be required to learn new skills to fully execute their jobs by 2030.
“As the economy in Nigeria starts to slowly reopen for business, we anticipate the return to an economy with different needs and certainly one were a new challenge presents itself in terms of skills.”
Off the back of the recent Global Skilling Initiative announcement to aid 25 million job seekers worldwide to acquire the skills required to survive in the new digital economy – the roundtable, one of the first in a series developed to provide a continental answer to youth employment and skill promotion brought together thought leaders and decision makers from the private sector, IGOs, Government Agencies and Academia.
John Edokpolo – Microsoft Director of Corporate, External and Legal Affairs, MEA Emerging Markets
“One of our key objectives today was to gain a better understanding of the available models, approaches and best practices in employment as we edge closer to the recovery phase of this crisis”, said John Edokpolo – Microsoft Director of Corporate, External and Legal Affairs, MEA Emerging Markets.
The global skills initiative is set to use data to identify in-demand jobs and provide free access to learning content by investing in free access to in-demand skills training, discounted tests that provide industry-recognised certifications, and free connections to employability tools. In so doing, pull together every part of the holistic brand the encompasses Microsoft, LinkedIn, and GitHub to integrate these offerings to meet job seekers’ and the economy’s needs.
While the roundtable also sought to strengthen collaboration between partners for employment- orientated skills development and look to build a consensus and further commitments for key stakeholders on a way forward, it also looked to facilitate valuable dialogue, synergy building and upscaling of public-private sector partnerships for improved youth employability outcome and future jobs.
At the event, special discussion as given to managing the transition to a digitally driven business model, particularly in Nigeria.
“As we continue to see organisations of all sizes drive efficiencies through this new accelerated digital transformation – we anticipate seeing the rise of what is called a ‘hybrid economy”, continued Edokpolo.
“One where employees will have an option of integrating back into the workplace, while others will choose to carry out their duties remotely. Essentially, this environment is going to rely more increasingly on technology to skills optimisation.”
“While the goal of reaching and changing the lives of 25 million individuals sounds like an incredible task, it cannot be done alone.
“We hope that through roundtable discussions like todays, our collaborations with the public, private and NGO sector will lead to greater impact in this regard,” continues Banuso.
“We look forward to continuing our sustained efforts in reaching and educating more customers and prospects around the tools and resources available and are excited about working with our community to achieve the ultimate digital change!” concludes Banuso.
Visa, global payment services giant, has announced plans to establish a data centre infrastructure in Nigeria.
Andrew Torre, Visa’s regional president for central and eastern Europe and Vice-President Kashim Shettima
According to a statement by Stanley Nkwocha, senior special assistant to the president on media and communications (office of the vice-president) on Friday, Andrew Torre, Visa’s regional president for central and eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, spoke during a courtesy visit to Vice-President Kashim Shettima at the presidential villa in Abuja.
“This is in addition to its investments of over $1 billion in the country, including a substantial technological partnership with @moniepoint to foster digital payment solutions, a $200 million investment in Interswitch, and a partnership with @thriveagric to empower smallholder farmers and enhance food security in Nigeria,” the statement reads.
During the meeting, Torre said the plan to establish the data centre infrastructure aims to bring new technologies into the Nigerian market that would bolster the nation’s growing digital economy.
“Visa has been making investments and will continue to make these investments in Nigeria,” he said.
Responding, Shettima welcomed Visa’s expansion efforts, assuring the delegation that the partnership between Visa and the Nigerian government would continue to flourish.
The vice-president commended the company for investing in ThriveAgric, noting that President Bola Tinubu’s administration is deeply committed to repositioning the agriculture sector, which remains a top priority in its 8-point agenda.
“Nigeria is where the action is. Of the 10 fintechs in Africa, about eight are in Nigeria, with moniepoint as the newest addition,” Shettima said.
“Agriculture is key to the 8-point agenda of the present administration. President @officialABAT is really keen on repositioning the agriculture industry here, and we have to invest in technology, we have to invest in modernisation.”
On January 23, Moniepoint, a Nigerian fintech company, announced it secured investment from Visa to support the growth of small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
Andrew Torre, Visa’s regional president for central and eastern Europe and Vice-President Kashim Shettima
Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has approved N242.8m for the procurement of a Microsoft 365 licence for its Internal Revenue Service (FCT-IRS) as part of efforts to digitise the service’s operations.
Mr Michael Ango, acting executive chairman of FCT-IRS, disclosed this after the FCT Executive Committee meeting chaired by Mr Nyesom Wike, the minister of FCTA, in Abuja on Wednesday.
Ango said that the FCTA was making significant investments in technology to enhance revenue generation and collection.
“So, this is also one of those investments in technology that the FCT is undertaking.
“The licence, if procured, will enhance our ability to move most of our manual processes into automated processes.
“It will enhance our ability to communicate within our offices,” he said.
The executive chairman added that the move would also reduce the use of paper and ensure better record-keeping through the storage of information and documents in the cloud.
According to him, “The licence will essentially enhance our operations and assist us in generating revenue for the development of the FCT under Wike’s leadership.”
Rack Centre, West Africa’s Tier III Carrier and Cloud neutral data centre, has welcomed Olla Cloud Service, a new private cloud service by Olla Systems Limited, a leading provider of innovative technology solutions, to its facility.
Hosting at Rack Centre, Olla Cloud Service runs on a state-of-the-art, cloud-enabled infrastructure for enterprise applications across diverse platforms, including mission critical application, web applications as well as containerised applications using Kubernetes.
Lars Johannisson, CEO, Rack Centre, welcoming Olla Systems, noted that the partnership with Olla Systems Limited would reflect the company’s commitment to providing African businesses with high- quality cloud computing services.
He noted that Olla Systems would enjoy Rack Centre’s 13.5MW data centre campus facility, designed to meet the highest international standards and offering scalable solutions to Hyperscalers, Enterprises, and Cloud service providers.
As part of its commitment to sustainability, the facility is equipped with energy-efficient systems, advanced cooling technologies to mitigate environmental impact and an optimally-designed feature to handle high-density workloads with precision.
According to Johannisson, “With Olla Cloud Service hosting at Rack Centre, clients will experience fast performance and low latency, enabling businesses in Africa to access world-class cloud computing services within a secure and compliant local infrastructure.”
Also speaking, Olusola Adenuga, chief executive officer, Olla Systems Limited, expressed enthusiasm about hosting at Rack Centre, noting that Olla Cloud remains a groundbreaking private cloud solution for businesses.
While highlighting the benefits of the partnership between Rack Centre and Olla Systems, Adenuga disclosed that “subscribing to Olla Cloud Service is cost-effective to customers because of its local currency payment advantage.”
She also noted that the partnership between the duo, provides businesses the opportunity to meet regulatory requirements of data residency, while enjoying world-class infrastructure as a service (IaaS) locally.
“Other benefits of hosting with Olla Cloud include: 24/7 support, unparalleled performance, scalability and agility.” she added.
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