American multinational technology corporation Microsoft has strengthened its partnership with the African Development Bank (AFDB) to provide support to Africa’s youth entrepreneurs under the bank’s Youth Entrepreneurship Investment Banks (YEIB) Initiative.

Through its African Transformation Office (ATO), Microsoft will partner with AFDB to develop entrepreneurship ecosystems in Africa through the creation of jobs and dramatically scaling impact in Africa through digital inclusion.

The partnership will see to the establishment and growth of national-level institutions, leveraging public-private collaboration model to ensure entrepreneurs get the required technical and financial support while building their capacity.

Microsoft reinforced its partnership with AFDB to develop Africa’s entrepreneurship ecosystem because it believes youth empowerment in the region will bolster solutions to unemployment if there is affordable access to finance, and quality business development services.

Commenting on its reinforced partnership with AFDB, General Manager of Microsoft Africa Regional Cluster, Wael Elkabbany said: “We believe much can be done to help foster youth entrepreneurship by collaborating with the African Development Bank, driving greater economic inclusion for this key segment of the population, and ultimately building a more prosperous society.”

”Already we’ve seen considerable success partnering together on initiatives such as Coding for Employment, which set out to create over 9 million jobs and reach 32 million youth and women across Africa in just 10 years.”

Also, the African Development Bank (AFDB) Vice President for Private Sector, Infrastructure and Industrialization Solomon Quaynor said “The strengthening of our partnership with Microsoft on the Youth Entrepreneurship Investment Banks (YEIB) is an important development in our journey towards harnessing Africa’s demographic dividend and facilitating the creation of millions of jobs for young Africans by 2025.

“The initiative places much-needed focus on youth entrepreneurship, which is key to achieving our ambitious employment targets.”

This partnership seeks to support the establishment of national-level institutions through a public-private collaboration model to scale up technical and financial support for youth entrepreneurs to build their capacity.

Subject to regulatory approval, Shell Petroleum Development Company is set to acquire Daystar Power.

Daystar Power, which is one of the leading providers of hybrid solar power solutions to commercial and industrial (C&I) hubs in West Africa, announced the potential acquisition in a press release. 

According to the energy provider, the acquisition will help Daystar Power to continue its growth in West Africa while expanding its presence to other African countries in East and Southern Africa. 

The Lagos-based company has a target to increase its installed solar capacity to 400MW by 2025. 

Daystar Power currently has an installed solar capacity of 32 Megawatts (MW).

This could make Daystar Power to become one of Africa’s leading providers of solar power solutions for commercial and industrial businesses.

The Chief Executive Officer of Daystar, Jasper Graf von Hardenberg disclosed that Daystar Power needed more capital to expand operations to meet the rising demand for solar energy and the choice of Shell as the new parent company comes at the right time. 

Jasper further stated that Shell’s strong balance sheet and long history in Africa will help to take Daystar to a new height.

On the other hand, Shell’s Executive Vice-President, Renewable Generation, Thomas Brostrøm noted that the deal will be Shell’s first power acquisition in Africa. 

He noted further that the deal is a fundamental step for Shell in growing its presence in the emerging power market. 

“We have had a long and established presence in West Africa and with Daystar Power, we are taking our first steps into the renewable power space,” he said.

“Daystar Power has a loyal customer base and a promising growth outlook, and by combining our efforts and expertise, I believe we can make a real difference in the energy transition, for West Africa and beyond.” Shell’s Executive Vice-President concluded.

Investors King learnt that Daystar Power currently has a presence in Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal and Togo. The company also received $20 million in funding last year to boost its operations.

Multinational computer hardware and consumer electronics company ASUS has disclosed plans to increase its market shares in Nigeria which is currently at 16 percent.

The electronics company had earlier disclosed that it will continue to create innovative technologies for everyone to enjoy in Nigeria as it targets a 40 percent activation rate.

The country manager for ASUS English-speaking Africa Simplice Zaongo disclosed that ASUS is driven by innovation and commitment to quality products that include notebooks, netbooks, motherboards, graphics cards, etc as it intends to deepen the market.

He said, “I must admit, when we compare ourselves with top competitors in the market, we still manage to achieve the number three position in the consumer industry in Nigeria, according to the IDC 2022.

“Besides being the No.1 consumer notebook brand in Asia-Pacific and East Europe, ASUS gaming notebooks account for the highest market share, No.1 worldwide.

“Our market share is 16 percent, while our activation share is 17 percent.” This means that when we push into the market, there is acceptability. That’s how we interpret it.

“But when we go back over the years, we noticed that market share was below 10 percent activation. We tried to analyze what the problem was.”

While responding to how ASUS intends to go beyond its 16 percent market share to its target of 40 percent, Simplice stated three strategies the company intends to use which are; brand awareness, affordability, and public enlightenment.

According to him, the primary goal for the next quarter is to reach a 40 percent activation rate.

“To achieve our goals, we have decided to strategically deploy three options. So, the first step is to create awareness. The second one is to educate customers. And the third one is to make our laptop affordable. We think it works for us”, he added.

It should be recalled that in February 2019, Investors King reported that ASUS plans to expand its operations in East Africa.

Last week, the electronics company introduced the ASUS Zenbook 14X OLED (UX3402) and Zenbook 17-Fold (UX9702) to the Media.

The company has three distributors in Nigeria, namely Coscharis Technologies, Mitsumi Distribution, and TD Africa, as well as five service centers in Lagos, Abuja, and Port Harcourt.