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Microsoft announced earlier this year that it would lay off 10,000 employees to align its cost structure with revenue and customer demand. While most layoffs occurred in Seattle, Washington, where Microsoft’s operations are based, Kenya was the first African country to be affected. According to their Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Edward Ochieng of Sklylab Systems, Microsoft’s Africa Development Centre (ADC) was also affected.
By June 2022, Microsoft had recruited more than 500 developers, the majority of whom were hired away from local tech companies. Microsoft opened its ADC branch in Kenya and Nigeria in 2019, promising to spend $100 million in its first five years. Several LinkedIn posts from now-former employees suggest that some developers in Kenya were laid off.
Nadella did not specify which of Microsoft’s over 200,000 staff would be laid off, and it remains to be seen how Twitter will compensate its African employees following Elon Musk’s message to Twitter employees. Nadella’s announcement about the layoffs earlier this year did not specify the compensation for those impacted outside of the US. At the time of publication, Microsoft ADC has not issued a statement or responded to issues regarding the layoffs.
