The trio of Microsoft Nigeria, Fate Foundation and Maramentors, have aligned together to better the worth of many youths in the country.
According to Bureau of Statistics, over four million youths in Nigeria are out of school and without employment; hence the partners want to assist them using cloud technology.
After successful mentorship by Microsoft with support from Faith Foundation and Maramentors, successful candidates will becomes Microsoft cloud marketers.
The program is part of Microsoft’s 4Afrika Initiative launched about two years ago with the aim of creating 100,000 jobs for youths across Africa.
Speaking during a media parley in Lagos by officials of Microsoft Nigeria, said they unveiled Cloudpreneur, a startup academy to cater for the process with ISO 27018 Cloud Privacy Certification, even as the applications for the Cloudpreneur Project opened on March 20.
The application will be opened through April 19, 2015.
Kabelo Makwane, country managing director of Microsoft Nigeria, informed that at the end of the project, the 20 best performing participants will receive mentorship to manage their own profitable businesses based on Cloud technology.
Makwane said: “Microsoft is committed to improving youth skills for both entrepreneurship and employability across Africa. Our efforts in Nigeria started with the launch of the Employability Portal in 2013, which provides a platform for youth to learn leadership skills and network with other leaders.
“Now through the Cloudpreneur Project, we hope to enable and empower young business owners, so that they can contribute to the social and economic growth of Nigeria.”
The Project, the Microsoft Boss said, will be open to 1,000 applicants who have been in business for between one year and three years.
From these applications, 100 successful participants will be chosen.
These participants will receive a four-week long training on business management, including training on: sales, technology, entrepreneurship, marketing, communication and start-ups management.
Following this, 30 of these 100 participants will be provided with startup models and, finally, the top 20 performers will be mentored on how to build their own Cloud-based business.
“Cloud technology has the potential to transform competitiveness amongst startups and SMEs, which is why we’re encouraging adoption of the Cloud through this Project,” added Kabelo. “It delivers easier access to IT, slashes costs, improves productivity and enables more agile, innovative business models, where everything startups need can be accessed and done on the web anywhere, anytime and off any device.”
On her part, Habiba Balogun, executive director, Fate Foundation, said, “Fate Foundation is delighted to partner and support Microsoft in its Cloudpreneur initiative which aims to empower entrepreneurs in the Tech-related business to not only improve and hone their skills and knowledge via an intensive training under the assured guidance of Microsoft but also to be equipped to run successful businesses and create employment via Fate Foundation’s proven Entrepreneurship Training.
“Technological Innovation translated into economic activity is the future for Nigeria and we commend Microsoft for being part of enabling wealth creation in Nigeria.”
A similar initiative, known as the Cloud Startup Academy, was launched by Microsoft, the Association of Women Entrepreneurs in Morocco and INWI in Morocco in June 2014.
The Academy takes 50 Moroccan women through a six-month programme, where they receive accelerated training on the Cloud to help them launched Cloud-based solutions.
While the Academy is open only to women – particularly young graduates and job seekers – the Cloudpreneur Project is open to both male and female startups across Nigeria.
“Mara Mentor is proud to bring our expertise in entrepreneurship support and mentorship to the Cloudpreneurs Project,” according to Hetal Shah, director of Operations at Mara.
“As an initiative focused on enabling, empowering and inspiring entrepreneurs, we believe this is an opportunity for young Nigerians in technology to get the training, support, and mentorship needed to build or grow cloud-based businesses.
“It is pertinent that young people embrace the culture entrepreneurship in line with global trends, and with increasing wave of cloud computing, Mara Mentor is happy to partner with Microsoft to empower cloud-based entrepreneurs and their ideas,” Shah added.