A selection of tech news from Nigeria and Africa at large.
New Microsoft Excel feature | Google tool for job seekers | Notion AI for blog posts | Telehealth platform for HIV | Youths Software training
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Microsoft Excel has unveiled an absolutely mind-blowing new feature – Techradar
A new Excel update will allow the spreadsheet software to insert images directly into a cell, making them part of a worksheet for the first time, as opposed to just floating on top of the sheet.
Microsoft says this new function should make your Excel sheets more personalized and customizable, giving your work a whole new dimension.
Microsoft Excel images: In its entry on the official Microsoft 365 roadmap, the company notes that as well as inserting images into cells directly, the new “IMAGE” function will also give users a range of extra customization options.
Users will be able to move and resize cells, sort and filter, and even work with images within an Excel table.
The company also recently included the ability to add hyperlinks into comments added to spreadsheets, rather than having to copy and paste from plaintext as had previously been the case. Read more here.
Google’s new tool to help job seekers prepare for interviews – The Guardian
Google has introduced ‘Interview Warmup’, a tool designed to help job seekers to become more confident and comfortable with job interviews.
The tool, first announced in October 2022 at the second Google for Africa Event, was designed to help Google Career Certificates learners prepare for job interviews. It is now available for everyone to use.
According to Google, an average job listing in Africa attracts over 2,400 applicants. And the implication of this is that the chances of landing a job can be slim. The company also noted that interviewing in a new field can be hard, especially when the job seeker does not have friends, family, or mentors who can help them practice and prepare.
More on the tool: Interview Warmup enables job seekers to practice answering questions carefully selected by industry experts. The tool uses machine learning developed by Google Research to transcribe their answers and help them discover ways to improve.
Individuals preparing for interviews can start practising by clicking on the homepage, choosing the job they are interviewing for, and then a practice interview that consists of five randomly selected questions or individual interview questions. Read more here.
Notion is using AI to automatically write your blog posts, job descriptions, and poetry – The Verge
Someday soon, Notion will be able to write your notes for you. The company is starting to test a new feature today called Notion AI, which Notion CEO Ivan Zhao tells me could ultimately change the way people use the app — and do their jobs. With Notion AI, all you have to do is tell the app what you want (a blog post, a recruiting email template, a list of great business books to read), and the app actually creates the content right in front of your eyes.
The first thing Notion AI is for, Zhao says, is writing. Lots of work requires writing, some of it repetitive (like creating new job descriptions) and some of it creative (like writing blog posts or brainstorming new ideas). Zhao thinks Notion AI can help in both cases. “For many users in this space, it solves the cold start problem. And even more than that, it saves time.” Notion AI won’t write you a publishable blog post, but it can help you skip the crappy first draft phase and go straight into improving and polishing. Read more here.
Kenyan startup MYDAWA launches telehealth platform for HIV prevention – DISRUPT Africa
Kenyan e-pharmacy startup MYDAWA has launched a telehealth solution tailored to HIV prevention with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Founded in 2017, MYDAWA enables consumers to conveniently purchase authentic high-quality medicines, health and wellness products through partnerships with healthcare practitioners and suppliers.
The startup’s virtual, discreet and convenient Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) service delivery can expand the reach of PrEP, which has been limited by the stigma associated with HIV and the public nature of the current onboarding system. In December of last year it received a US$1.2 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to help it to expand access to this system.
Using that funding, and in partnership with the University of Washington, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Fred Hutch Cancer Research Centre, Jhpiego and Audere, MYDAWA has now developed an end-to-end virtual healthcare solution for customers who wish to access PrEP and Post-Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP) online. Read more here.
PLP To Train Youths In Software Development By 2027 – New Telegraph
As part of closing the digital skill gap in Africa, Power Learn Project (PLP) said over one million youths would be trained as software developers across the continent by 2027. PLP in partnership with Adanian Labs Nigeria and the Job Red will launch the program on Friday, November 18 in Lagos, making Nigeria is the fifth African country to introduce the #1MillionDevs4Africa programme. Launched in 2022 in Kenya, PLP is a Pan African impact organisation with a vision of driving transformative change for young people across the continent. PLP seeks to empower youths with relevant technology capacity through the provision of quality, affordable and decentralized tech training. According to PLP the initiative has also been launched in partnership with Adanian Labs, has also been launched in South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia.
The pilot phase of the Nigerian training programme which will last over a period of 16 weeks is 100 per cent funded in a remote driven program, with access to internship and venture coaching support from JobRed and Adanian Labs respectively. It costs over $1,000 to train a software developer, with this figure rising to $25,000 for a certified software engineer. Read more here.
