Microsoft has introduced the Microsoft 4Afrika Initiative, a new effort through which the company will actively engage in Africa's economic development to improve its global competitiveness. By 2016, the 4Afrika Initiative plans to help place tens of millions of smart devices in the hands of African youth, bring 1 million African small and medium-sized enterprises online, upskill 100,000 members of Africa's existing workforce, and help an additional 100,000 recent graduates develop employability skills, 75 percent of whom Microsoft will help place in jobs.
As a first step toward increasing the adoption of smart devices, Microsoft and Huawei are introducing the Huawei 4Afrika, a full-functionality Windows Phone 8, which will come preloaded with select applications designed for Africa. The phone will initially be available in Angola, Egypt, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria and South Africa later this month. The Huawei 4Afrika phone, which is the first in a series of smart devices designed '4Afrika', will be targeted at university students, developers and first-time smartphone users.
The Huawei 4Afrika is a customized version of the Huawei Ascend W1, launched earlier this year at the Consumer Electronics Show. The smartphone features a 4-inch IPS LCD with 480x800 resolution, 1730 mAh battery, Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 MSM8230 dual-core 1.2 GHz processor, Adreno 305 GPU and 4GB internal storage. The phone includes a 5 MP back camera and VGA front camera and comes in a choice of blue, black, white or red colours. It will feature a customized 'store in store' with a variety of applications and exclusive content designed for Africans.
Microsoft's partner Nokia is also participating in the 4Afrika initiative. Nokia and Microsoft will provide a customer training programme in Kenya and Nigeria to help accelerate adoption of Nokia's Lumia 510 and 620 Windows phones.
