Google establishes first Africa Development Centre in Kenya

American multinational technology company, Google has announced the establishment of its first Africa product development centre in Nairobi, Kenya.

The centre, which is expected to help create transformative products and services for people in Africa and around the world, is coming barely four weeks after Microsoft opened new African Development Centre at Ikoyi, Lagos.

This was made known by Google’s Vice President of the product, Ms Susan Frey, via a statement issued on Thursday, where she said that Google would also be hiring for the development centre.

According to the statement, which was seen by Nairametrics, Frey started that the tech firm will hire visionary engineers, product managers, UX designers and researchers to lay the foundation for significant growth in the coming years.

To hire talents to solve challenges

Frey also said that the centre was looking for talented, creative people who would help solve difficult and important technical challenges, such as improving the smartphone experience for people in Africa.

She said that talented people would also be building a more reliable internet infrastructure.

Google to invest $1 billion in Africa in next 5 years

Frey recalled that in October 2021, at a `Google for Africa’ event, the Chief Executive Officer, Sundar Pichai, announced plans to invest $1billion over the next 5 years to support Africa’s digital transformation.

She pointed out that the investment is expected to focus on enabling fast, affordable internet access for more Africans, building helpful products, supporting entrepreneurs and small businesses and helping non-profits to improve lives across Africa.

• Frey said, “In 2018, Google also opened an AI Research Centre in Accra, Ghana to help drive useful innovations. The new product development centre is a continuation of that commitment and will be working on building for Africa and the world.
• “Google’s mission in Africa is to make the Internet helpful to Africans and partner with African governments, policy makers, educators, entrepreneurs and businesses to shape the next wave of innovation in Africa.
• ‘’Today I am excited to welcome all Africans passionate about improving the digital experience of African users by building better products to apply for the open roles at our first product development centre in Africa.’’

What the Managing Director for Google in Africa is saying

The Managing Director for Google in Africa, Nitin Gajria, revealed that there were 300 million internet users in Africa who were young, mobile-first and had similar patterns to mobile youth globally.

Gajria said that by 2030, Africa would have 800 million internet users and a third of the world’s under-35 population, adding that the potential for Africa to become a leading digital economy was right on the horizon and Google was committed to accelerating Africa’s digital transformation through human capital.

What you should know

• In a related development, recall that in January 2020, Google Nigeria launched its first GoogleDevelopers Space in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial hub, to help provide a place where entrepreneurs, developers, startups and investors could connect and collaborate with each other.
• The tech firm said that the space was the next step to Google support for developers across the continent, stressing that Google’s commitment to training 100,000 developers across Africa over 50% had been met.