Jack Ngare has been appointed the Managing Director of Africa Development Centre (ADC) in Kenya that was launched by Microsoft sometime in May 2019.
The facility, which will serve as Microsoft’s centre of engineering saw a combined investment of KES 10 billion from the American corporation. A similar site is also being set up in Lagos, Nigeria.
Ngare has been in the technology business for more than 15 years. He will take his new role fresh from Finserve Africa where he served the Equity-affiliated firm under the same title.
Ngare’s experience cuts across financial services, telecoms and management.
Before joining Finserve, he held various positions at Stanbic Bank and NIC Bank. He also spent seven years at British Telecom with assignments in the U.K., Peru, and Japan.
Academically, he holds a Master’s degree in management from Harvard University, a Master’s degree in Advanced Computer Science and a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Leicester.
“The ADC is unlike any other existing investment on the continent, helping us better listen to our customers, develop locally and scale for global impact,” says Mike Fortin, Corporate Vice President at Microsoft and the leader who established the first ADC engineering team in Nairobi.
“This is such an incredible opportunity, to join an organization that is truly empowering people globally, and in Africa, to achieve more. I can’t wait to start my new journey as managing director and proud to lead such a talented team in Nairobi. I also look forward to welcoming many more talented engineers to the centre as we all embark on this wonderful digital transformation journey,” says Ngare.
At the moment, ADC says its engineers are working with local partners to address issues in Kenya, Africa and the rest of the world. The platform will also allow engineers to work in the country while being part of Microsoft’s global engineering team.
