In the latest episode of Marketplace Africa, CNN’s Cyril Vanier met Akin Banuso, the Country General Manager for Microsoft Nigeria-Ghana, to discuss how the tech giant is driving digitisation across the continent.
For more than two decades, Microsoft has been growing its presence across Africa, and now their sights are set on expanding in Nigeria. Banuso described why the country is so important for Microsoft, “The business environment definitely is changing in Nigeria.
It’s evolving. I would say it’s a very agile, marketplace. There’s a lot happening all the time. We see startups coming up and there is opportunity because of the sheer size of the market itself.”
Microsoft has announced that it is working with the Nigerian government to commit to upskilling 5 million people in Nigeria alone.
Banuso told Vanier about bridging the gap between talent and skill, “We know that we are in the digital economy and that there is massive unemployment in these parts of the world. We also know that it’s a young continent.
“So you have a lot of young people who actually have the talent, what they lack is the skills. So what we want to try and do, working with the government, is to bridge the gap between the talent and the skills, and at the same time, point them towards the jobs that are in demand today and will be in demand tomorrow.”
While technology is advancing in various different ways, Banuso believes that artificial intelligence (AI) will be the next exciting development, “The areas that I see real progress recently would be in AI. So in the field of AI, you will see Microsoft injecting AI into everything that we do.”
Microsoft’s long-term goals on the continent include partnering with the FinTech sector to drive growth in African businesses.
Banuso spoke about the plan for the next ten years, “In the next five to ten years, I think the future in Africa looks very good for Microsoft because there is a lot of work that is being done, which I would call foundational, which is working with governments in Africa to understand the environment.
“Working with customers to understand what their pain points are, and then shape ourselves to be able to come up with the right solutions and not just from ourselves, but working in partnership with other organisations or the global organisations to ensure that there is a brighter future.”
Banuso is confident that the global leadership at Microsoft, and the company as a whole, is committed to promoting growth across Africa.
He told Vanier, “The company is very keen and very eager to give back and also to support the growth aspirations of African countries.”
