Google CEO Sundar Pichai has announced its first Product Development Centre, which will be opened later this year in Nairobi.
This announcement was tweeted by the CEO of Google, Sundar Pichai who expressed his excitement at its prospects to build “transformative” products and services for the African market and the world.
Google said it will hire over a hundred tech talents across Africa which includes Software Developers, UI/UX designers, Product Managers and Researchers to help build and develop products and services for people in Africa and over the World.
“We’re hiring engineers, product managers, UX designers and researchers in Nairobi who want to build helpful products and services for people in Africa and around the world,” the Tweet reads.
This will have a positive impact on Africa Tech Ecosystem while also providing employment opportunities for a lot of people. It should also be noted that this is the second biggest technology centre Google has established in Africa after the AI research centre in Accra, Ghana, launched in 2018 to help drive innovations.
The new roles needed to help build a better Africa and the world has been listed here by Google.
“We’ve made huge strides together over the past decade — but there’s more work to do to make the internet accessible, affordable and useful for every African. Today I’m excited to reaffirm our commitment to the continent through an investment of $1B over five years to support Africa’s digital transformation to cover a range of initiatives from improved connectivity to investment in startups.”
Mr. Pichai said at a Google for Africa event in October 2021
The remarks are proof of Google’s support and acknowledgement of the contributions of African Techies to the development of Technology in the world.
Suzanne Frey, Google’s VP for products elucidated the choice of Nairobi, Kenya. She said it will ensure the global tech giant achieves a balanced allocation spread across the continent as Google has previously launched the AI Research Centre in West Africa. Noteworthy is also their physical offices in locations across Africa like Lagos, Nairobi and Johannesburg.
She explained, “We have a balanced presence on the continent with our physical office locations in Nairobi, Johannesburg and Lagos. We are looking at expanding our presence in the future and the decision for Nairobi is in that view, especially as we already have an AI hub in West Africa.”
