The centre will provide opportunities for engineering talent and the Microsoft Garage, an incubation hub launched as part of the ongoing efforts to scale tech innovation on the continent. The building, which cost $27million, also boasts of self-heating windows, a mini solar plant to power the facility, and a water treatment facility to recycle and purify the water.

According to BusinessDaily, the facility has been built similar to Microsoft’s global offices to optimise space utilisation, air conditioning, and lighting adjustments as part of Microsoft’s global ambition to be net carbon negative by 2030.

President Uhuru Kenyatta, who unveiled the new facility at Dunhill Towers, Nairobi, in the company of other dignitaries, expressed optimism that the facility will bolster the government’s push to secure high-tech jobs in the digital space for the youth.

“As a premier centre of research and development for Microsoft, we all remain confident that you – together with our young men and women – will build a local world-class talent and create innovative technological solutions that will yield global positive impacts,” said President Kenyatta.

He added that the centre would create full-time time jobs for Kenyans in software development, programme management, technical design, content writing, operations, research and applied sciences as part of the mutually beneficial partnership between the Government and Microsoft.