Ola Williams, the country manager of Microsoft, Nigeria & Ghana, in the company of Lillian Barnard, president, Microsoft Africa, made the announcement at the ongoing Microsoft AI Tour in Lagos, Nigeria.

According to Williams, the investment is a testament to Microsoft’s mission to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.

“This announcement is one of the ways that we bring this mission to life. I’m thrilled. I am so delighted to announce that, as Microsoft in Nigeria, will be investing one million dollars in the next two years to empower one million Nigerians.

“This is a significant investment in our efforts to ensure that everyone has access to the right skills that they require to really not just only use AI, but to build solutions on AI, build businesses on AI that still be a sustainable means of livelihood for Nigerians.

She thanked Microsoft for believing in Nigeria and Nigerians.

“Thank you, Microsoft for this great investment. The truth is that Microsoft’s interest in Nigeria is beyond business. We want to impact lives and the economy positively”, the country manager said.

The AI Skill Development programme, Techeconomy gathered, is for startups, businesses and government officials.

Also speaking, Lillian Bernard, said Microsoft has been operating on the Continent for three decades, but with a unified team, the global tech giant has opened new opportunities for partners in Africa.

“It is such a great responsibility to come to market like Nigeria to deliver this message. This is part of Microsoft’s commitment on the Continent. As technology evolves, so are the skills. Most of the jobs now are AI jobs, unfortunately there are no enough people to to handle these jobs. We believe this initiative is such a platform to upskill the people”.

The summit gathered leaders from various sectors and NGOs to learn and network collaboratively, showcasing the transformative potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for non-profits and social enterprises.

AI offers great potential for non-profits to transform their social impact interventions at scale. As a general-purpose technology, it can improve the quality of lives of citizens in various sectors, such as health, financial inclusion, agriculture, and education.

By showcasing how AI can significantly improve efficiency, scale impact, and address socio-economic challenges, the summit demonstrated the relevance and importance of AI for low-resourced countries like Nigeria.

During the event, Winnie Karanu, Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) philanthropies lead at Microsoft, reaffirmed Microsoft’s commitment to driving AI transformation in the sector, stating:

“At Microsoft, we believe that AI can be a powerful force for good in Nigeria, where it can help solve some of the most pressing challenges facing the country. That is why we are dedicated to equipping non-profits with the AI tools and knowledge they need to amplify their impact and create a more prosperous and sustainable future for all.“

An engaging panel discussion moderated by Dr. Bayo Adekanmbi, CEO/Founder of Data Science Nigeria, focused on the role of AI in social good, sharing practical examples and emphasizing the importance of ethical AI development.

The panel included top professionals such as Dr. Oladipupo Sennaike, a senior lecturer from the University of Lagos and one of the principal investigators of the EduAI Hub; Ms. Odunayo Sanya, executive director of MTN Foundation; Dr. Frederick Atenaga, Information Management Officer and expert on Humanitarian Affairs; and Mr. Sunday Taiwo, Head ICT and Vice President of GIEVA, the grant winner of the renowned Microsoft and DataDotOrg Grant.

Participants at the Summit also engaged in hands-on workshops, acquiring practical AI skills to apply in their organizations, and explored a variety of cutting-edge digital tools designed to enhance the social impact of non-profits.

These sessions provided a great opportunity to demonstrate emerging AI applications for key non-profit operations such as fundraising, program planning, human resource management, partner management, outreach optimization, personalized donor management, and precision-based intervention.

Reliance Infosystems Limited, a Microsoft Tech for Social Impact Partner, made a substantial contribution by demonstrating non-profit industry innovation on Microsoft business applications.

Its focus included fundraising and engagement, volunteer management, and program impact dashboards.

Microsoft and DSN share a vision of digital inclusivity and skills development for non-profits. This mission is supported by Microsoft’s Philanthropies team, which also partners with the Federal Government of Nigeria to provide digital skills across the country through the Digital Skills Nigeria platform.

For more insights into the program, watch the documentary here.

Dr. Bayo Adekanmbi, founder/CEO of DSN, highlighted the importance of ongoing AI capacity development efforts.

“Our collaboration with Microsoft aims to equip Nigerian non-profits with the skills needed to create inclusive and equitable AI applications. This initiative will enable these organizations to address critical issues in health, finance, agriculture, and education, focusing on the practical application of AI across sectors.”

Ultimately, the collaboration hopes to drive significant social impact in Nigeria by demonstrating the potential for AI to support social good initiatives and offering practical insights on how to leverage the technology for programmatic and capacity development purposes.

Participants were invited to explore the Microsoft non-profit platform, a valuable resource that can be accessed here.

Microsoft Enterprise deal will save the cost of information technology projects, while C-band migration is expected to boost the 5G network ahead of launch in August this year.

This is according to a statement by Dr Femi Adeluyi, Technical Assistant, Research and Development, to the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof Isa Pantami.

The statement read in part, “The Federal Executive Council approved an Enterprise Licensing Agreement for Microsoft Products and the clearing up of C-band Spectrum, in order to accelerate the deployment of 5G services in the country.”

According to the statement, the Government-wide Enterprise Licensing Agreement for Microsoft products is a software acquisition cost-reduction strategy for the government, which will keep the cost of IT projects within sustainable levels.

This strategy will be implemented by the National Information Technology Development Agency, under the supervision of the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy.

It is expected that the Enterprise Licensing Agreement will provide a projected savings of a minimum of 35 per cent of the government’s current investment in Microsoft Products and Services.

The Federal Government directed all Federal Public Institutions to key into the Agreement in the procurement of Microsoft licenses and services.

TechEconomy had reported that C-band migration approval enables the Nigerian Communications Commission to clear part of the C-band spectrum within the country’s telecommunications industry of any impediments and migrate the current users on the affected spectrum, towards the successful deployment of 5G technology in the country.

Additionally, the NCC and the Nigerian Communication Satellite Limited have agreed to migrate the operations of NigComSat-1R Satellite C Band service to another frequency (Standard C Band) and release its current frequency for immediate deployment of 5G in the country.

According to the statement, the current lifetime of NigComSat-1R ends in seven and a half years, operating C-Band services on the 3.4 – 3.9GHz spectrum range.