Victor Ezeja
In its quest for social inclusion, Microsoft Africa Development Center (Microsoft ADC), the engineering center for Microsoft is set to host an event across Africa focused on honing talents of people with disabilities.
The event is scheduled to hold on December 3, 2021, which is the International Day of Persons with Disabilities.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelAccording to a statement from the Microsoft ADC group, the event is diversity-centered and would encourage the inclusiveness of people living with disabilities in key career paths, while also raising awareness about their potential talents.
The Microsoft ADC said it aims to use the event to de-emphasize the stereotypes attached to disabled persons which affect the employment of talents among them, adding that it presents an opportunity for them to be exposed to appropriate facilities, programmes, and tools suitable to advance their skills and be included in the workforce.
The event will cover Microsoft Accessibility, which is an essential tool used in delivering Microsoft’s mission of empowering people and organisations and creating opportunities for people living with disabilities across sectors of the economy.
According to the Managing Director, Microsoft ADC, Kenya, Jack Ngare, there are a lot of untapped potential talents in people living with disabilities across the world and that it is part of the company’s mission of integrating them (disabled persons) in their workforce to utilise their talents and take them out of poverty.
Ngare said, “From our 25 years of work on accessibility at Microsoft, we at ADC have learned that people with disabilities represent one of the world’s largest untapped talent pools, and that inclusion of disabled talents is crucial to achieving our mission. Our employees with disabilities continue to be the catalysts of our innovations such as Learning Tools, live captioning in Teams, Seeing AI and many more. We continue to actively work to hire and nurture people with disabilities to bring their expertise into our processes, products, and culture at every level.”
Speaking about the event, Engineering Talent Sourcing Specialist, Microsoft ADC, Sophie Okonkwo, emphasised the importance of diversity at workplace as a hallmark of an inclusive sensitive organisation like Microsoft.
She said, “Organizing this event to engage people with disabilities and allies in the Africa tech ecosystem is imperative, as the awareness of disability and inclusion needs to be widespread. The Microsoft Africa Development Centre Disability Event aims to celebrate the ability in disability and bring to the fore, the limitless possibilities that people with disabilities can achieve in an inclusive world.”
The Microsoft ADC Disability inclusion event which will be held virtually to commemorate the International Day of Persons with Disabilities in Africa, has its activities backed up by organizations affiliated with Microsoft Africa Development Centre, while participants would have access to a wide range of mentors and speakers.
The organisation has offices in Africa with locations in Nairobi, Kenya and Lagos, Nigeria which were created to serve as a base for African industry leaders to create local solutions with global touch and also provide employment opportunities and further enhance technological innovations in the continent.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with seven years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Master's degree in Mass Communication.
