Google Announces G-Africa Initiative for Software Developers

 The big G has announced the start-off of their G-Africa Initiative, a series of events in Sub-Saharan Africa for software developers, marketers and entrepreneurs.

According to Google,

We are happy to announce the launch of the G-Africa Initiative, a series of events in Sub-Saharan Africa for software developers.

So to kick off the G-Africa event series… upon an invitation by the Mauritius Board of Investment our first event, G-Mauritius Day 2009, will take place in Ebene Cybercity, Mauritius. The event will be held over a two day period (September 3-4, 2009); the first day is for software developers and the second for local marketing professionals and entrepreneurs.

The agenda is as follows:

Day 1: For Software Developers (September 3rd 2009)
Day 1 will focus on pushing the boundaries of web applications using Google developer technologies. Google engineers and web development leaders will lead attendants through a full day of in-depth sessions on the latest Google technologies including App Engine, Maps API, YouTube and OpenSocial. The day will also be about bringing brilliant developers together to share ideas. [Registration form for Day 1]

Day 2: For Marketing Professionals and Entrepreneurs (September 4th 2009)
Day 2 will be full of Google product demonstrations for small or medium sized businesses to help spur innovation and entrepreneurship in Mauritius. There will be a discussion on how to create local content using online tools, how to market them and how to monetize. Furthermore there will be presentations of several tools to better manage businesses. [Registration form for Day 2]

For more information about the event, visit the site at: https://sites.google.com/site/gmauritiusday/

What’s more?

If you write any sort of code (either for work or for pleasure), reside in Sub-Saharan Africa and want to be notified about upcoming developer events organised by Google in your country, please register your interest by filling out the form or emailing us at africadeveloper@gmail.com.

We have also recently launched two methods to improve our communications with developers in EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa):
1. EMEA Developer Blog: We’ll be posting regularly on international product launches, local events as well as highlighting EMEA developers on what they’re up to,
2. EMEA Developer Newsletter: We know it’s difficult to keep up with all of Google’s developer launches so, every 3 months, we will send out a product launch summary. Sign up here.

My thoughts

Another indication that Google has recognized that Africa’s got talents that are waiting to be tapped. But why Mauritius? Apparently, Google has been invited by the Mauritius Board of Investment to support local software developers and entrepreneurs in Mauritius.

Perhaps other Africa countries would follow suit: Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt, Uganda, Cameroon in the next few months.

I think it would be interesting to see Nigerian software developers participate in this event(s). The discussions on how to create local content using online tools, how to market them and how to monetize would be of particular interest and importance to startups from Nigeria.

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