Intel East Africa General Manager Danie Steyn during a partnership announcement between Intel and iHub on February 27, 2013. Photo/DIANA NGILA
What you need to know:
Last week, the company entered into a partnership with iHub Nairobi and AfriLabs to improve the quality of local apps and increase the uptake of technology in the region.
Intel will provide expertise, finance, hardware and platforms for the apps to access the vendor markets, while the developer community will generate ideas and provide the manpower to create innovations that can be applied globally and deliver commercial benefits.
Global technology giant, Intel is seeking talent from Africa to expand their business on the continent.
Last week, the company entered into a partnership with iHub Nairobi and AfriLabs to improve the quality of local apps and increase the uptake of technology in the region.
AfriLabs is a network of 14 tech hubs and labs in Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, Zambia, Madagascar, South Africa, Cameroon, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and Senegal.
In the new arrangement, the firms will work together with to improve the quality, applicability and scalability of local innovations at the global platform.
Intel will provide expertise, finance, hardware and platforms for the apps to access the vendor markets, while the developer community will generate ideas and provide the manpower to create innovations that can be applied globally and deliver commercial benefits.
“Africa has become a focus location for most large tech corporations because of the vibrancy of the ICT sector and the sheer talent in the local youth. We are looking at doing something to improve the quality of products being developed in the region. This will, of course, benefit us as a company,” Intel East Africa general manager Danie Steyn said at the launch of the partnership in Nairobi on Wednesday.
In Nairobi, where the partnership was first launched, the company will work with the developers based at the iHub, mLab and other hubs in the city.
The partnership will also include members of the academic community from local and regional universities.
“We are going to involve the academic community whose major role will be developing a better curriculum so that the students are ready for the job market by the time they leave. They will also run developers’ competitions,” Mr Steyn said. The universities have not been selected yet.
In its first phase, the programme will be rolled out in Kenya, South Africa and Nigeria, and spread to other countries starting with the East African region.
“With this arrangement, our developers will have access to PCs and laptops with advanced specs such as facial recognition, voice recognition and gesture control, which can be instrumental in creating high quality applications. The software development scene in Africa is active, but still nascent, and we are happy to partner with Intel,” said iHub research director Jessica Colaco.
Intel is hoping to use the programme to improve its business prospects in a region where Silicon Valley giants have revised their African strategies to maximise their share of the fast-growing ICT market driven by the huge technology uptake.
In a visit to Nairobi last month, IBM president and chief executive officer Ginni Rometty said the firm has developed a special attachment to Kenya, and Africa at large, as a potentially big market for its products.
In a separate effort to improve the skills of the local developer community, the company has launched a research lab in Nairobi, the first in Africa and one of the only 12 IBM research labs across the world.
The lab is being constructed at the Catholic University of East Africa, and will leverage on IBM’s technology and data analytics to develop products and services that are expected to solve some of the region’s problems. The firm is now in the process of recruiting qualified scientists regionally.
IBM has also announced a partnership with three local universities; Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Riara University and Strathmore University that will give students access to the latest enterprise software and systems, an extensive library of IT curricula for computer science, training programmes and a market for their products.
Phone manufacturer Nokia has also been active in organising students’ competitions, known as hackathons, to support the development of local innovations.
According to Nokia East Africa general manager Bruce Howe, the competitions seek to promote the growth of the local talent in innovation.
In a similar programme, Samsung Electronics East Africa is running a technical training programme involving more than 200 students from Kenyan technical institutes such as the Multimedia University College and Kabete Technical Training Institute.
The Ksh84million ($ 1 million) programme is expected to have trained over 10,000 electronics engineers from across Africa.
