The African Development Centre (ADC), Microsoft’s engineering hub, has appointed Catherine Muraga as its Managing Director effective 01 June 2022 to succeed MD Jack Ngare who has led the ADC since its inception in 2019.
Catherine, a seasoned IT professional with over 15 years of experience brings a wealth of experience and is well-versed in the IT landscape in Kenya and the region, having worked in a variety of industries such as manufacturing, aviation, and banking.
Prior to joining Microsoft, she led the Engineering team at Stanbic Bank Kenya and South Sudan and was a member of the bank’s Executive Leadership team. She was previously the Director of IT and Operations at Sidian Bank.
Catherine is an alumnus of Columbia Business School Digital Strategies for Business, Oxford University Fintech Programme and holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer Science from Africa Nazarene University.
Since its inception in Nairobi in 2019, the ADC has grown to over 450 full-time employees working in areas such as software engineering, machine learning, data science, market research, infrastructure, and much more.
The ADC relocated to its new ultra-modern state-of-the-art facility at Dunhill Towers along Waiyaki Way in March, from Microsoft’s office, where it had been hosted for the previous three years. The new facility will house the engineering, design, research, and innovation teams, as well as the Microsoft Garage, an incubation hub established as part of the continent’s ongoing efforts to scale tech innovation. It also serves as the home of the Microsoft Africa Research Institute (MARI).
Outgoing MD Jack Ngare saw the recent unveiling of the $27 million Microsoft Africa Development Centre, which aims to bolster the Government’s quest to secure high-tech jobs in the digital space for the youth. The ADC is among other development centres across the globe that are geared towards training world class engineers who will create global products and services and has already employed more than 450 engineers in Kenya as well as 500 employees in other areas. The Africa development centre employs about 570 engineers working on identity and network access, mixed reality, Microsoft 365 as well as connected services and experiences.
At Google, Ngare will help Google Cloud’s Office of the CTO (OCTO) to foster collaborative innovation between Google Cloud and its largest, most strategic customers. Google Cloud is a global team of senior technology experts and former enterprise CTOs who works with customers on digital transformation. OCTO brings a blend of experiences from both inside and outside of Google to balance their approach and helps customers understand and take advantage of the full breadth of innovation that Alphabet offers. The team also advises Google Cloud and Alphabet on emerging trends across products, industries, geographies and components.