Here’s what really happened at #GoogleForNigeria event

Earlier today, TechCity reported that the CEO of the world’s biggest search engine Google is in Nigeria for the Google for Nigeria event.

After delivering the keynote address, he interacted with various stakeholders in the country’s tech ecosystem who were in attendance at the Landmark Event Center in Lagos.

Google used the event to showcase its various products and services. It revealed that it is making the internet work better for everyone in Africa

“By 2034 Africa is expected to have the world’s largest working-age population of 1.1 billion—yet only. 3 to 4 million jobs are created annually. That means there’s an urgent need to create opportunities for the millions of people on the continent who are creative, smart and driven to succeed,” Google stated.

At Google for Nigeria event in Lagos, the company announced progress made in their products and features for users in Nigeria, including YouTube, Search and Maps.

It also announced initiatives focused on digital skills training, education and economic opportunity, and support for African startups and developers.

One of the company’s initiatives showcased is its Digital Skills for Africa.

“Last year we set out to help bridge the digital skills gap in Africa when we pledged to train one million young people in the region—and we’ve exceeded this target. Through either in-person or online trainings, we help people learn to build a web presence, use Search to find jobs, get tips to enhance their CV, use social media, and so on.

“Now we’re expanding this program, and committing to prepare another 10 million people for jobs of the future in the next five years. We’ll also be providing mobile developer training to 100,000 Africans to develop world-class apps, with an initial focus on Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa.”

Google.org grants 

Google also announced that its charitable arm, Google.org, is committing $20 million over the next five years to nonprofits that are working to improve lives across Africa.

“We’re giving $2.5 million in initial grants to the nonprofit arms of African startups Gidi Mobile and Siyavula to provide free access to learning for 400,000 low-income students in South Africa and Nigeria,” Google stated.

According to the company, the grantees will also develop new digital learning materials that will be free for anyone to use.

“We also want to invite nonprofits from across the continent to share their ideas for how they could impact their community and beyond. So we’re launching a Google.org Impact Challenge in Africa in 2018 to award $5 million in grants. Any eligible nonprofit in Africa can apply, and anyone will be able to help select the best ideas by voting online.”

Google also showcased its Launchpad Accelerator Africa through which it said it wants to do more to support African entrepreneurs in building successful technology companies and products.

“Based on our global Launchpad Accelerator program, this initiative will provide more than $3 million in equity-free funding, mentorship, working space and access to expert advisers to more than 60 African startups over three years. Intensive three-month programs, held twice per year, will run out of a new Google Launchpad Space in Lagos—the program’s first location outside of the United States,” said Google.

There were also some product announcements including YouTube, Search and Maps.

YouTube Go

Designed from the ground up, YouTube Go lets you discover, save and share videos you love in a way that’s transparent about the size of downloads. Designed to be “offline” first, the app improves the experience of watching videos on a slower network and gives control over the amount of data used streaming or saving videos. It’s a full YouTube experience, with fresh and relevant video recommendations tailored to your preferences and the ability to share videos quickly and easily with friends nearby.

“In June, Nigeria became the second country where we started actively testing YouTube Go. Later this year, we’ll be expanding this to a beta launch of the app, available to all Nigerian users,” Google said.

Google also announced that Lagos is now on Street View in Google Maps

“In the last few months, we’ve improved our address search experience in Lagos, by adding thousands of new addresses and streets, outlines of more than a million buildings in commercial and residential areas, and more than 100,000 additional Nigerian small businesses on Google Maps.

“Today we’re launching Lagos on Street View, with 10,000 kilometers of imagery, including the most important historic roads in the city. You can virtually drive along the Carter Bridge to the National Stadium or across the Eko Bridge, down to the Marina—all on your smartphone.”

Faster web results

The company observed that when users are on a 2G-like connection or using a low storage device, pages can take a long time to load. So it has addressed this.

“We previously launched a feature that streamlines search results so they load with less data and at high speed. Today we’re extending that feature to streamline websites you reach from search results, so that they load with 90 percent less data and five times faster, even on low storage devices,” said Google.

More local information in Search

Google has also made several updates to Search to bring more useful, relevant answers and information to people in Nigeria.

The company announced the following:

● Knowledge Panels: Google is connecting people with easy access to the answers to things they care about, displaying knowledge cards for everything from local football teams to Nigerian musicians and actors.

● Health Cards: Later this year, Google said it will launch more than 800 knowledge cards detailing common symptoms and treatments for the most prevalent health conditions in Nigeria.

“We’ve partnered with the University of Ibadan to ensure that answers have been reviewed by Nigerian doctors for local relevance and accuracy. Nigeria is one of the first countries where we’re providing locally tailored health answers on Search,” Google said.

● Posts on Google: Posts makes it possible for musicians, entertainers and other public figures to share updates, images and videos directly on Google, for people to see while they explore on the web. Nigeria is now the third country where Google has made this feature available and some of the country’s popular musicians are already using it.

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