Microsoft announced plans to shut down its Nairobi engineering hub after operating there for seven years, potentially affecting nearly 400 positions. The company had previously vowed in 2019 to empower African tech professionals by helping them create global products without relocating.
The Nairobi-based Africa Development Centre (ADC) will now be phased out as part of Microsoft’s worldwide restructuring efforts. Staff were recently summoned to mandatory meetings, instructed to consult with their supervisors by October 16 regarding potential departure arrangements.
Established simultaneously in Nairobi and Lagos in 2019, Microsoft committed over $100 million to nurturing African technical expertise. The initiative aimed to hire local engineers specifically for developing products intended for worldwide distribution rather than limiting African offices to sales and customer service roles.
By 2022, the Nairobi facility had employed more than 450 engineers, surpassing Microsoft’s initial hiring objectives. However, signs of trouble emerged in March 2023 when Microsoft implemented job reductions at the Nairobi center as part of its global workforce cuts. Later that year, the company closed its Lagos engineering center in Nigeria. In July 2024, Microsoft reduced approximately 2.1% of its global workforce, following an earlier round of 15,000 layoffs in 2025.
Despite the closure plans, Microsoft maintains it will continue employing people in Kenya. William Kabogo, Kenya’s ICT minister, met with Microsoft representatives who briefed him about the company’s operational changes. Both parties agreed to create a transition plan, though its impact on the closure decision remains uncertain.
Meanwhile, Wise – the UK-based remittance technology company – has been expanding its operations in South Africa. After receiving conditional regulatory approval in December 2025, Wise signed an agreement in April 2026 to handle international payments for Capitec Bank’s 25 million customers. Most recently, on October 5, the South African Reserve Bank confirmed Wise Payments South Africa’s designation as a Category Two Authorised Dealer.
