Microsoft has issued its first statement regarding the shutdown of the six-year-old Microsoft Africa Development Centre (ADC) West Africa located on Lagos Nigeria.
Techeconomy had published an exclusive report of Microsoft’s plan to shut down ADC, comprising engineering and communications operations.
An official statement from Microsoft to Techeconomy, reads;
“Organizational and workforce adjustments are a necessary and regular part of managing our business. We will continue to prioritize and invest in strategic growth areas for our future and in support of our customers and partners.
“Microsoft has decided to close the Africa Development Centre in Nigeria, and as a result some of our employees based in Nigeria will be impacted.
“We will continue to operate in Nigeria, and we remain committed to Nigeria’s transformation objectives, and as such will continue to invest in our business and key growth areas in the region,” a Microsoft spokesperson, said.
Microsoft Africa Development CentreTecheconomy investigations indicated that affected employees might receive salaries until June and continue to have access to their health insurance.
“Microsoft ADC team is made up of, majorly, engineering and communications team. It is not the entire Microsoft [Nigeria] that is affected”, an insider source told Techeconomy on Tuesday.
“But, this came as a shock because the Microsoft founder was in Nigeria recently and even promised to invest in some projects. So, the teams are, kind of, confused about what could have prompted the ‘sudden’ action. There wasn’t a kind of grapevine among the staff that something like this was going to happen. Maybe in the coming days, the message will become clearer.
“However, a lot of tech companies have been laying off employees since the ‘AI war’ started”, the source said.
In another sign of Africa’s growing importance as a global hub for talent, Microsoft launched a $100 million Africa Development Centre (ADC) with offices in Kenya and Nigeria.
Aiming to recruit 100 full-time engineers by the end of the year, and 500 engineers by the end of 2023, Microsoft was betting on African innovation in fields like fintech, agritech and offgrid energy and hopes to tap into them.
Through ADC, Microsoft aimed to partner with local universities that will create a curriculum designed for the next wave of digital skills, including data science, AI, mixed reality, and application development.
“There is panic in Kenya office too. There have been calls from the team. They want to know what is happening, but it is difficult to process the situation. Everyone has been moody since Monday the news filtered in”, our source said.
Microsoft ADC, a $100m project, was launched in 2019 with centres in Lagos (Nigeria) and Nairobi (Kenya).
Author
Comments 1