Microsoft promised $100m for its Africa engineering centre. Staff say Nairobi's is closing.
Microsoft's Africa Development Centre, an engineering hub in Nairobi, is shutting down, Techweez reported on 12 October, citing employees who spoke to CIO Africa.
Microsoft did not use the word closure. Its statement said: "The proposed changes are part of global restructuring and have impacted the engineering department in Kenya." The company added that it will keep operating in Kenya and supporting customers in the region.
Microsoft announced the centre in May 2019, with sites in Nairobi and Lagos and a plan to invest $100 million over five years, tech-ish reported. The Nairobi site opened in March 2022 with more than 450 engineers and product leaders, working on identity, Microsoft 365, Windows, security and developer tools. The Lagos site closed in 2024.
Microsoft has not said how many Nairobi staff are affected or when their roles end.
The centre's teams worked on the products most office staff log in to every morning. The statement names the department affected. It does not say whether that work moves elsewhere.
If a vendor cut the team behind a product you run every day, how would you find out?
Image: AI-generated.
Sources
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