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African developers: show us what you’ve got!

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By Dele Akinsade
Developer Platform Lead, West, East, Central Africa & Indian Ocean Islands

The launch of Windows 8 on October 26th was definitely one of the most exciting days of my career so far. Why? Well, you may already know that I am incredibly passionate about developers and the potential that exists for them to make a lasting positive contribution to Africa. And to me, the launch of Windows 8 was a single moment in time that I believe represented the opening of an enormous ‘window’ of opportunity across the continent.

We already know how many talented developers we have in Africa. We have seen them demonstrate that they are ready to compete globally during events like Imagine Cup, DEMO Africa, our Developer Camps, and through the many excellent Windows Phone 7 apps that have been developed by African developers, which we have showcased through our ‘Developer of the Week’ campaign.

The opportunity

 But now, developers, you are faced with an opportunity like no other.

Apps are at the centre of the Windows 8 experience. And we all know that the more locally relevant the app, the more useful it is to the user.

So, quite simply: You have the potential to shape the way Africa experiences Windows 8.

You have the ability to be part of the reason Windows 8 will be the most relevant version of Windows in Africa yet.

And, you have the chance to come up with apps that will address uniquely African challenges, as well as the opportunity to sell globally relevant apps to customers in over 200 markets.

With a global marketplace waiting for your apps, the best tools available for you to use, and a good financial model  – the only thing left for you to do is to get going!

I can’t wait to see what the African developer community has in store for us :)

  Akinwale Ariwodola is a Nigerian based developer and has already developed three Windows 8 apps: MovieTimes, ClassicRSS and Slyde.

Where to start
1. Register for BizSpark, so one of our network partners can provide you access to the development tools you need.
2. Visit the Windows 8 Dev Centre to get the downloads you need