Microsoft, a United States-based multinational technology giant, has considered closing the African Development Centre (ADC) in Lagos, one of its operations in Nigeria.
Microsoft’s ADC is located in Ikoyi, a sophisticated area of Lagos, the commercial headquarters of Nigeria, Africa’s biggest economy.
It was learnt that Microsoft revealed to its staff members last Monday that it was shutting down operations in its African Development Centre in Lagos without giving any reason.
An insider told the Guardian newspaper that the affected employees would receive salary payments until June and continue to be covered by health insurance.
While the exact reasons behind the decision remain ambiguous, sources suggest Nigeria’s worsening economic conditions may have adversely impacted it.
According to the report, the closure affects only the ADC’s West Africa operations in Nigeria, not its East Africa facility in Nairobi, Kenya.
An unnamed source within Microsoft’s Lagos office neither confirmed nor refuted the closure when approached by the newspaper.
Microsoft launched its US$100 million African Development Centers initiative in 2019, establishing facilities in Lagos and Nairobi.
Nigeria’s Microsoft ADC hired more than 120 engineers when unveiled in 2022, growing to more than 200 staff members.
The company aimed to recruit 100 full-time engineers by the end of 2019 and 500 engineers by the end of 2023. Microsoft is betting on African innovation in fields like fintech, agritech, and off-grid energy and hopes to tap into it.
“The ADC will be unlike any other existing investment on the continent. It will help us better listen to our customers, develop locally and scale for global impact,” Microsoft executive vice president Phil Spencer said in Nairobi.
“Beyond that, it’s an opportunity to engage further with African partners, academia, governments and developers – driving impact and innovation in sectors important to Africa.”
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