Helping fight Covid-19 across the Middle East and Africa together
As our region and the rest of the world responds to the outbreak, our thoughts are with the people affected and the medical professionals working around the clock to help those most in need. At Microsoft, we’re working to do our part by ensuring the safety of our employees. We’re striving to protect the health and well-being of the communities in which we operate. And we’re providing technology, solutions, tips, and resources to help people work and learn remotely while they stay safe and connected.
Human ingenuity and technology are forging a new way forward for the Middle East and Africa
The new decade has got off to a challenging start, pushing humanity to the limit. And amidst navigating this uncharted landscape, it is all the more vital that we remain committed to the region, and deliver tailored technology solutions to help our customers and communities.
06 January 2020; Kuwait City, Kuwait – Al Rayan schools and Microsoft are working together to ensure full continuity of education in Kuwait, as they team up to ensure the delivery of remote e-learning for more than 13,000 students from five schools.
Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, 4 March 2021 Microsoft, through its Microsoft 4Afrika initiative, and the U.S. Government’s Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) have signed a memorandum of understanding to support women
In a joint announcement with the Government of Nigeria, Microsoft has detailed several projects aimed at intensifying the nation’s move to become a more digital economy.
Making South Africa’s youth more employable through digital skills training
Microsoft is announcing a partnership with the Public Service Sector Education and Training Authority (PSETA) and Afrika Tikkun to extend the Global Skilling Initiative that was launched last year to provide at least 20 000 young people with critical digital skills.
African governments must digitise to be innovative, inclusive and resilient
It’s been said before, but it bears repeating – the Covid-19 pandemic offers Africa the chance to leapfrog development through digitisation
Tapping into technology to drive the sustainability of SA’s agriculture industry
Agriculture’s role as a critical sector, driving growth and job creation in the South African economy has come back under the spotlight, particularly as the world marks Earth Day, and other industries continue to feel the effects of the uncertainty of the past year.
Microsoft joins with World Council of Credit Unions to fast-track innovation in financial services
Nairobi, Kenya, 28 April 2021Microsoft East Africa, through the support of its 4Afrika initiative, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU)
Microsoft Cloud Ecosystem to generate new revenues of USD$27 billion in the UAE by 2024
13 March 2021; Dubai, United Arab Emirates – New revenues reaching around USD$27 billion will be generated in the UAE over the next four years by Microsoft, its partners and cloud-using customers.
Women in tech join hands to provide mentorship and encouragement
8 March 2021 To mark International Women’s Day, women’s mentorship organisation Wentors, in collaboration with Microsoft, through its Microsoft 4Afrika initiative.
31 March, 2021; Dubai, United Arab Emirates – Microsoft today announced that a global digital-skilling initiative launched in partnership with LinkedIn has allowed more than a quarter million people in the United Arab Emirates to acquire digital skills during the COVID-19 crisis.
16 February, 2021; Muscat, Sultanate of Oman – Microsoft today announced that its Compliance Manager tool, part of Microsoft 365, will now empower Omani businesses to adhere to their legal obligations more easily while continuing to innovate at a time when remote working is inducing rapid changes across industries.
8 March – Microsoft and non-profit social enterprise, Tech4Dev have partnered on the Women Techsters Initiative to train girls and women across Africa in coding and deep tech skills, aiming to bridge the digital and technology divide and ensure equal access to opportunities across the continent.
Mantrac Group partners with Microsoft to accelerate remote working
Cairo, Egypt- 10 February 2021; Mantrac Group, the authorized dealer for CAT products in Egypt, has recently announced its ‘Virtual Work Place’ initiative to accelerate remote working.
KEO International Consultants partners with Microsoft to reimagine the workplace
KEO International Consultants, the region’s renowned creative enterprise of planning, design, engineering and project management, has partnered with Microsoft to reimagine its workplace by adopting its cloud and productivity solutions.
Working from home? Here’s how to keep your devices safe from cyberattacks
Our world has changed dramatically over the last couple of months and in an effort to keep the wheels turning, companies across the Middle East and Africa (MEA) are switching to remote work. Microsoft is no different.
Free online digital skills courses revive hope and careers for millions amid the pandemic
Four months in to Microsoft’s global skills initiative, the tech company has given training to more than 13 million people, partly by partnering with nonprofit organizations that are helping job seekers.
Announcing the best technology-based solutions to tackle gender-based violence
Microsoft South Africa announced the winners of the Safe@Home Hackathon to address gender-based violence in South Africa. The winners, Combat against GBV, developed a fit-for-purpose, technology-based solution designed to protect vulnerable women and children.
Reimagining South Africa’s wine industry
No-one could have predicted the catastrophic consequences COVID-19 would have across the world. South Africa’s wine sector acutely felt the impact with Wines of South Africa reporting the sector is running at a R7.5 billion loss.
Four months ago, Microsoft with LinkedIn announced its commitment to helping 25 million people around the globe, particularly those economically impacted by COVID-19, gain new digital skills before the end of March 2021.
In a move to enrich the smart learning ecosystem in Kuwait, the Ministry of Education of Kuwait join forces with Microsoft to empower over 400,000 educators and students with Office 365 and Teams across Kuwait.
Public-private partnerships hold the key to future development
For Africa, digital transformation will be an enabler of rapid development across the continent, positively impacting the most vulnerable communities. Public-private partnerships will play a critical role in accelerating transformation.
How investing in digital infrastructure can make the difference to Africa’s economic recovery
The impact of Covid-19 on Africa’s development can be either a massive barrier to advancement, or the spark that lights the fire of innovation and digital investment across the continent.
Finding technology-based solutions to tackle gender-based violence
Microsoft, together with the 1000 Women Trust and TEARS Foundation, have launched the Safe@Home Hackathon to address gender-based violence in South Africa. The virtual hackathon invites South African developers to create solutions to help victims of gender-based violence.
Creating a rapid and scalable response to the Covid-19 pandemic in South Africa
Supported by Microsoft 4Afrika, CPGR, with Thasa Technologies, developed a Covid-19 testing solution suitable for rapid production and roll-out in South Africa and across the continent, enabled by Microsoft Azure.
Microsoft and UNESCO team up to boost employability in the Middle East and Africa
COVID-19 has hit the youth hardest – according to the International Labor Organization more than one in six young people are no longer working. Even those still employed have lost around a quarter of working hours.
Microsoft launches two new Surface devices in South Africa
Microsoft has announced the expansion of its award-winning Surface device range into South Africa, with the introduction of the Surface Pro 7 and Surface Laptop 3 for both commercial and consumer customers.
How global disruption can have local implications
Anticipating and mitigating for the impact of unforeseen global events on supply chain management is crucial if SMEs who are reliant on goods from an affected area are to survive.
Vodacom Business and Microsoft South Africa have partnered to provide access to continuous, connected digital learning for South Africa’s education institutions, educators and learners through their Connected Digital Education initiative.
Microsoft Corp. announced a new global skills initiative aimed at bringing more digital skills to 25 million people worldwide by the end of the year. The announcement comes in response to the global economic crisis caused by COVID-19.
Microsoft highlights the critical role of AI in unprecedented times, at virtual summit
Microsoft held its first ‘Imagining the Future: Microsoft AI Virtual Summit’ to address how technologies like AI will play an important role to enable governments, businesses and communities navigate through unprecedented times, and build the new normal.
Leading private education provider embraces online learning
What started as a pilot project two years ago with the ADvTECH Group to test the potential of remote learning at its South African schools, has evolved into a full-scale rollout to transform primary and high school education.
The Higher Education Commission of Pakistan deploys Microsoft Teams to over 100 universities.
To accelerate remote learning in a safe and secure environment, Microsoft is supporting the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan by deploying Teams for official online and remote learning interactions across more than 100 ublic and private universities.
How socially-led innovation can bring positive change in unchartered times
Now is the time for Africa to actively promote socially-led enterprise to drive innovation, create a dynamic business ecosystem, and solve for the continent’s pressing social needs.
Ensuring secure collaboration is key to digital learning
As more and more people across Africa are required to stay home, we are seeing a massive shift towards remote learning. This has meant the growth in the usage of collaborative tools such as Microsoft’s Teams.
Online learning has set the future of education in motion
Microsoft Innovative Educator Experts across the Middle East and Africa agree online learning is helping students understand more about how they learn, what they’re interested in learning and the support they need to achieve.
How to maintain your productivity when working from home
Now that we’re all working from home more often, it’s more important than ever to be aware of you and your team’s different work styles
Partnerships in Times of Crisis
4Afrika healthcare partners quickly adapted to confront the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic. We support our partners to harness technology for good to provide healthcare solutions with a big impact.
One of the largest NHS trusts in England is using Microsoft HoloLens on its Covid-19 wards to keep doctors safe as they help patients with the virus.
Tips and tricks for working from home
With more people working from home than ever before, the need for seamless communication has never been greater. In regions such as the Middle East and Africa
Bahrain’s Ministry of Education joined forces with Microsoft to accelerate its E-learning strategy and make the transition to remote education in the Kingdom. The effort has enabled public schools with free access to Office 365.
IDC and Microsoft today hosted an exclusive webinar featuring industry experts to discuss business continuity and its challenges, as organizations in the region and around the world maintain the remote working norm.
Ministry of Public Health Introduces Covid-19 Health Bot to Citizens in Lebanon
The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) in Lebanon has announced the roll out of a Covid-19 Health bot solution for citizens. Powered by Microsoft Azure, the Bot has an inbuilt symptom checker.
The rapidly growing need for online protection
With the world’s swift transition to living much of our daily lives online, cybercriminals are looking to take advantage. In a time of great uncertainty, these malicious actors are exploiting our fears with socially engineered scams.
Enter an AI wonderland with these #stayathome workshops
Research shows businesses across the Middle East and Africa are battling to acquire the digital skills they need, and yet, many countries across the region have a remarkably low number of STEM graduates who are women.
Six perspectives on leading a virtual team during a time of crisis
Many teams within Microsoft have worked in an entirely virtual way for years. The leaders of some of these teams share key learnings as they’ve adapted to best support their people during this challenging time.
Preserving privacy while addressing COVID-19
As countries and companies focus on technologies to fight the pandemic, it’s critical we also protect people’s privacy. We’re offering seven ideas to consider as we move into the next phases of fighting this pandemic.
Learning Never Stops: Enabling Distance Learning Across the World
With more than 1.5 billion students and youth affected globally by closures of schools and universities, the COVID-19 crisis has prompted institutions to switch to remote learning at unprecedented scale.
Microsoft offers free Teams training to educators across the country
Microsoft is joining forces with its partners to give academic institutions in South Africa free half-day training in Teams to help them effectively use the technology and enable more seamless remote learning within the country.
Ministry of Education boosts remote learning to ensure public health and student safety
The Ministry of Education has enriched their smart learning ecosystem with Microsoft Teams. The program aims to enhance safety for students and society at large while ensuring smooth flow and completion of the curriculums.
Online education tools: streamlining operations and facilitating remote learning for schools
Jacaranda College in Gauteng needs technology that is able to improve school efficiencies from both a teaching, learning and administrative perspective. It’s important for the school to balance its business operations with its educational responsibilities.
Four ways to keep your remote workforce safe from cybercriminals
As businesses across the Middle East and Africa send their employees home to work, the need to guard against cyberattacks is greater than ever. These simple measures can help keep your workforce secure.
How the Gauteng government is unlocking the benefits of working remotely
Though many people prefer the traditional way of working, there are times when it is necessary to work remotely. The spread of Covid-19 has changed the way people in South Africa – and globally – live and work.
Keeping the momentum of learning with digital education tools
Bryandale Primary School in Bryanston, Johannesburg had to physically close its doors – like all other South African schools – on Wednesday 18 March. But just because the school is not open does not mean learning has stopped.
KOTC implements remote working solutions to ensure workforce health and safety
Kuwait Oil Tanker Company (KOTC) will implement remote working solutions by leveraging secure platforms such as Microsoft 365. The move will enable KOTC to run mission critical operations while ensuring the health and safety of its workforce.
Educators are finding powerful ways to connect with students in the sudden shift to remote learning
When the COVID-19 virus reached pandemic levels, shuttering schools the world over, it left educators facing a massive challenge: How to keep students learning and engaged without the face-to-face closeness and comfortable daily routine of a classroom.
Boosting collaboration in remote learning
For those educational institutions whose bread and butter has always been online learning, the recent surge in demand for remote learning is a good opportunity to ensure that they have the optimal resources in place.