The developments concerning Microsoft’s Africa Development Centre (ADC) in Nairobi have been weighing on me, particularly because of what they mean for the people whose careers have been built there.
I think about the engineers who have spent years developing their skills, working with talented colleagues and contributing to technology with global relevance. I think about the uncertainty facing them and their families, and the disruption to careers they have worked hard to build.
An engineering centre is more than a collection of jobs. It is an environment where people learn from one another, tackle complex problems, exercise professional judgment and grow into engineering leaders. Over time, these interactions build institutional knowledge and technical capabilities that cannot simply be recreated overnight.
Having begun my career as a software engineer, this is personal to me. I have experienced technology from several perspectives: as an engineer in the US; as a Microsoft executive helping grow the business and its ambitions in Africa; through public-policy engagement to enable investment and innovation; and now as a board leader driving digital transformation across African businesses.
I spent 21 years at Microsoft, including helping establish its presence in Kenya and serving as a founding member of Microsoft4Africa. I understand the ambition behind investing in African engineering talent and the potential such investment can unlock.
My subsequent policy engagement reflected the same conviction: the right environment can attract investment, enable innovation and expand access to technology.
That journey makes this moment particularly poignant. Companies must make commercial decisions as priorities and markets change. But the human consequences and value built through years of investment in people must not be overlooked.
The question is not simply what happens to the jobs. It is what happens to the talent, experience and potential those jobs have helped develop.
Beyond the human impact
My concern extends beyond the uncertainty facing engineers and their families. It is also about the capabilities they represent and what these could mean for Africa’s economic future.
Through my board responsibilities, I see how digital technologies and artificial intelligence (AI) are reshaping business competitiveness across the continent. Businesses need people who can understand complex technologies, develop solutions and translate innovation into commercial value.
The expertise developed in an engineering environment such as the ADC can help African businesses improve productivity, develop new products and compete internationally.
These benefits can extend beyond the company that makes the investment. Engineers carry knowledge into new roles and ventures, and can become entrepreneurs, mentors and investors. But this requires opportunities to apply expertise, access to capital and a business environment that rewards innovation.
AI raises the stakes
AI makes these questions more urgent. AI is changing how software is developed, how businesses operate and where competitive advantage is created. It offers opportunities to accelerate innovation and improve productivity, while changing the capabilities required to compete.
For African businesses, the challenge is not simply to acquire AI tools. It is to apply them intelligently to local markets, data, processes and customer needs. That requires technical expertise to identify valuable problems, develop appropriate solutions, integrate technologies responsibly and translate them into measurable business outcomes.
AI could help African businesses develop services and address challenges in agriculture, healthcare, financial services and manufacturing. But access alone does not create value. Human expertise remains essential to defining problems, designing systems, evaluating outputs, managing risks and exercising judgement.
The ability to build with AI, rather than merely consume products built elsewhere, will be an important source of competitive advantage. The capabilities developed in engineering centres such as the ADC therefore matter not only for today’s technology industry, but also for Africa’s participation in the next phase of the global digital economy.
Can the continent mobilise these capabilities to develop its own products, businesses and intellectual property, and help shape technologies that will influence its future?
Creating innovation conditions
Attracting international technology investment is important, but it should be part of a broader ambition to build sustainable innovation ecosystems.
Governments must create conditions in which technology businesses can invest and grow: reliable digital infrastructure, appropriate regulation, technical education, research and development, and effective intellectual property protection.
My policy experience reinforced the importance of these connections. Intellectual property protection is not merely a legal consideration: it influences whether innovators can commercialise their work, whether investors can assess its value, and whether businesses have confidence to commit capital to new products.
Similarly, engagement around dynamic spectrum allocation demonstrated how policy and regulation can expand affordable broadband access. Connectivity creates opportunities to participate in the digital economy; a supportive innovation environment helps people create value within it.
In the AI era, policy must also address computing infrastructure, responsible access to data, research capacity and the ability of businesses to experiment and scale. Talent needs opportunities to flourish; investment needs a wider ecosystem to realise its benefits.
Businesses have a responsibility too. Digital transformation should rethink business models, develop products and improve productivity-not simply acquire technology or automate existing processes. Boards must connect technology and AI strategies to commercial outcomes, responsible risk management and the people needed to deliver them.
Building capability
None of this suggests that global technology companies should maintain every investment indefinitely, or that Africa should pursue technological self-sufficiency in isolation. International partnerships and access to global technologies remain essential. The objective should be to ensure they contribute to local capacity to innovate, develop intellectual property and build globally competitive businesses.
Success should be measured not only by jobs created or investment announced, but also by expertise developed, knowledge retained, enterprises established and value created by African innovators.
For engineers affected by developments at the ADC, the immediate priority is their future and that of their families. For African businesses, there is an opportunity to mobilise talent that can contribute to competitiveness. States and educational institutions must recognise that developing skilled people is only part of the task; creating conditions in which their skills can be productively applied is equally important.
There may, nevertheless, be a silver lining in this moment. The availability of highly skilled engineers with experience developing technology to global standards could represent a significant opportunity for African businesses and governments.
If mobilised effectively, these capabilities could accelerate corporate and public-sector digital transformation, strengthen AI adoption, modernise public services and help African enterprises develop more competitive products. This requires businesses, governments and investors to connect talent with meaningful opportunities.
The priority must remain the people and families affected. We should also recognise the opportunity to turn uncertainty into investment in Africa’s own technological capacity.
For me, this is both a human concern and a strategic imperative. The people affected matter. The capabilities they represent matter. And so does what we do next.
The opportunity is not simply to find these engineers their next jobs. It is to enable their expertise to help shape Africa’s digital future.