Under the aegis of its recently established Africa Transformation Office (ATO), the global Information Technology (IT) giant, Microsoft, in March 2022, graciously announced new initiatives to accelerate the growth of 10,000 African start-ups and fast-track investment on the continent’s ecosystem over the next five years.
Microsoft’s recently launched global Founders Hub will now be available to African start-ups through the ATO.
It’s noteworthy the Founders Hub is a self-service venture that provides start-ups with a wide range of resources, including access to mentors, skilling content, tools like Microsoft Azure and GitHub, and go-to-market and business support.
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Microsoft is also creating new partnerships with accelerators and incubators across Africa, including Grindstone, Greenhouse, FlapMax and Seedstars to provide industry-based start-ups with access to markets, technical skills and funding opportunities.
These partnerships would provide African start-ups with access to skilling programs and markets, including opportunities to co-sell with Microsoft, as well as access to technology, with support from Microsoft’s engineering and product teams for co-innovation opportunities.
To enable start-ups to rapidly scale through using investment funding, Microsoft is establishing industry alliances and partnerships with venture capital investors that would facilitate access to $500 million in potential funding for African start-ups.
This funding would reportedly come from a network of venture capital investors, who would dedicate a portion of their financial support to start-ups in the Microsoft network.
It would interest us to note that Microsoft had already established partnerships with several key venture capital investors, including Banque Misr, Global Venture Capital and Get Funded Africa, and the intention was to grow this network of venture capital investors in the next five years to increase funding and enable them to scale up and drive economic growth.
Microsoft believes the vibrant African start-up market is well placed to become a cornerstone of the continent’s digital economy, supporting local innovation through relevant solutions to societal challenges.
The Managing Director of the Microsoft ATO, Wael Elkabbany said, “Investments into Africa’s start-up ecosystem are growing at an exciting pace. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), there are more than 640 active tech hubs across Africa, accelerating innovation and creating employment, particularly among the youth.”
“However, currently the African start-up market represents less than one per cent of total investments worldwide. This needs to change.”
He reveals that Microsoft’s endeavour to dramatically scale its impact would be driven by an overarching strategy with three key focus areas.
Elkabbany concludes, “There is huge potential for Africa to become a thriving hub of digital innovation on the global start-up landscape. Our ambition is to see an explosion of local inventions that will contribute positively, not just to Africa’s digital economy, but to global society.”
On his part, the Start-ups Lead of the Microsoft ATO, Gerald Maithya further disclosed that Microsoft was establishing partnerships with venture capital investors, primarily those with global reach and regional bases, who are interested in one or more regions within Africa.
He said, “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.”
“We understand that each start-up is unique and exists beyond the limitations of a one-size-fits-all partnership model. This is why 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.”
What was more of interest in Microsoft’s report, where it mentioned that ‘currently the African start-up market represents less than one per cent of total investments worldwide’ having acknowledged that the continent could boast of more than 640 active tech hubs.
This is to say that the concerned authorities on the African continent aren’t doing enough as expected of them, hence the compelling need to expedite actions in a bid keying into the needful.