Microsoft Closes Its African Development Center in Lagos, Putting Jobs at Risk

According to insiders, Microsoft has chosen to close its Lagos Innovation Center; the company’s decision was probably influenced by Nigeria’s economic situation.

It’s possible that Microsoft made the business choice to close its African Development Centre (ADC), which is situated in Ikoyi, Lagos. This move will have an impact on roughly 500 employment that are directly related to the innovation centre.

Microsoft informed the staff on Monday of its decision to close the innovation center, which also houses the Microsoft Garage, where local solutions are developed and nurtured to maturity, despite not providing a reason for the decision. These sources are close to Microsoft Nigeria.

Senior Microsoft employees that THISDAY met with on Tuesday neither confirmed nor refuted the story. Senior staff members, however, promised that Microsoft will respond to the media reports shortly.

However, according to a second source close to Microsoft, the decision to close the Microsoft Innovation Center may have been influenced by the challenging business climate in Nigeria as well as the country’s severe economic reality. According to the source, no investor would be willing to lose money on an investment, and it would be in the investors’ best interests to close the company down to prevent future financial loss when an investment is losing money quickly.

In order to build hubs where technological solutions will be produced from Africa to solve both African and global concerns, Microsoft launched the Innovation Center in 2019. Microsoft was pleased with the concept and proceeded to create the $100 million African Development Centers in Kenya and Nigeria. However, it later opted to close the Nigerian center, with the Kenyan center continuing to function.

This past month, THISDAY noticed what seemed to be a barren section inside the Microsoft Innovation Center facility in Lagos. There were no employees on duty throughout the building’s seven stories; the only people on duty were the security guards and front desk employees. The fact that no one was working there suggested Microsoft may have decided to close the innovation center early.