Microsoft pledges support to 10 000 African start-ups

Microsoft has announced that, through its recently established Africa Transformation Office, it plans to help accelerate the growth of 10 000 start-ups in Africa over the next five years.

The US-headquartered software giant will provide investment funding to African start-ups through its Founders Hub – a self-service hub that provides start-ups with a wide range of resources, including access to mentors, skilling content, developer tools like Azure and GitHub, and go-to-market and business support.

Microsoft will partner with business-to-business-focused start-ups and businesses with the potential to become “unicorns” (privately held start-ups valued at over US$1-billion) across a range industries, and those concentrated on working with small and medium enterprises.

“We understand that each start-up is unique and exists beyond the limitations of a one-size-fits-all partnership model. Therefore, Microsoft will tailor each partnership to the needs of individual start-ups, providing support and access – whether to technology, markets and co-sell opportunities, funding or digital skills – to enable them to grow and contribute to the wider economic growth of Africa,” said Gerald Maithya, start-ups lead in the Microsoft Africa Transformation Office, in a statement on Thursday.

The primary goal will be to provide support in one or more of the following areas:

• Access to technology, from the provision of cloud credits and developer and productivity tools like GitHub to access to Microsoft’s traditional partner ecosystem, and technical support and “enablement”. This also includes contact with Microsoft’s engineering and product teams for the purpose of co-innovation.
• Access to markets, including the opportunity to co-sell with Microsoft from its SME Marketplace and the ability to partner with Microsoft on expansion activities, together with access to relevant enterprise and government partners. Microsoft will help start-ups with geographical expansion and co-selling opportunities.
• Access to funds. Microsoft’s partnerships with venture capital investors will provide qualified start-ups with access to funding.
• Access to skills development resources. Start-ups will be able to access multiple technical, self-paced training, workshops, and instructor-led sessions and virtual training. Microsoft plans to partner with government start-up programmes, regional ecosystems of start-ups networks and associations, and accelerators.

Microsoft will also look to establish partnerships with investors who are interested in one or more regions within Africa. “Our goal in establishing these partnerships with venture capital investors is to extend the network of potential partnerships between Microsoft, venture capital investors and start-ups, thereby increasing the funding made available to eligible start-ups,” said Maithya. – © 2022 NewsCentral Media