On Monday morning, engineers at Microsoft's Africa Development Centre in Nairobi were called into a meeting at Dunhill Towers in Westlands. By the time it ended, according to employees who spoke to several Kenyan and pan-African outlets, many of them had been told their jobs were going.
The Nairobi centre was one of Microsoft's proudest bets on African talent. Launched in 2019 with a promise of about $100 million over five years, it builds parts of products used by millions of people worldwide, including Microsoft 365, Windows, security and identity tools. Now it faces the same fate as its sister centre in Lagos, which Microsoft shut in 2024.
Microsoft has not used the word "closure". But it has confirmed that its Kenyan engineering team is affected by "proposed changes" tied to a global restructuring.
Microsoft says "proposed changes" have "impacted the engineering department in Kenya". Employees say they were told the centre is closing, and reports put about 400 jobs at risk.
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What Microsoft Said
In a statement on 12 October 2026, Microsoft said it is "communicating directly with employees in Kenya about proposed changes to our engineering operations" and that it "will continue to have employees in the country," according to Tech-ish. It said it would keep operating in Kenya and supporting customers across the region.
What Microsoft has not said is just as important. It has not confirmed how many people will lose their jobs, when the changes take effect, which teams are included, or what it will pay departing staff beyond what the law requires. It has also not said whether Microsoft Research Africa and the Microsoft Garage, which share the Westlands building, are affected.
Employees who spoke to CIO Africa said the entire centre was told its jobs were going. TechMoran reported that the changes could leave fewer than 10 of the centre's roughly 400 staff in place. These are employee accounts, not figures from Microsoft.
Kenya's Government Steps In
The same day, Kenya's ICT Cabinet Secretary William Kabogo met a Microsoft delegation led by Jeff Bullwinkel. Kabogo said he pressed the company on protecting jobs at the Nairobi engineering centre, keeping local tech talent and protecting investor confidence.
According to the ministry, Microsoft reaffirmed its long-term commitment to Kenya, and both sides agreed to draw up a joint action plan covering AI in government, digital public services, cybersecurity, digital infrastructure and skills. Neither side has said whether that plan could save the engineering jobs.
From a $100 Million Promise to Here
Microsoft announced the Africa Development Centre in May 2019, with Nairobi and Lagos as its first two sites and a target of 500 engineers by 2023. Kenya's then president Uhuru Kenyatta welcomed the company with the words, "We want you to make Kenya your African home."
The Nairobi office formally opened in March 2022 with more than 450 full-time staff. Microsoft said it beat its hiring target a year early, and by late 2022 it reported more than 500 engineers in Nairobi alone.
Then the cuts began. In May 2024, Microsoft confirmed it was closing the Lagos engineering centre while saying Kenya was unaffected. In July 2026, it announced about 4,800 job cuts worldwide, roughly 2.1 percent of its workforce, and warned that engineering teams would change their structure and priorities. A further 268 Xbox jobs went in September.
Microsoft has not said the Nairobi changes are driven by AI, and it would be premature to assume so.
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What Staff Are Entitled To
Kenya's Employment Act sets minimum protections for workers who lose their jobs through redundancy. Where the legal conditions apply, these include written notice, at least one month's notice or pay instead, payment for unused leave, and severance of at least 15 days' pay for each completed year of service.
Some former staff have alleged on LinkedIn that employees were pushed toward performance plans or "voluntary" exits before this week's meeting. Microsoft has not responded to those claims, and they have not been independently confirmed.
What This Means
For hundreds of Kenyan engineers, the next few weeks will decide whether they stay at one of the world's biggest tech companies or join the job market. Many of them have world-class experience, and local startups, banks and remote employers abroad will be watching.
For Kenya, the move is a blow to its pitch as Africa's Silicon Savannah. A flagship Big Tech engineering hub was proof that serious product work could be done from Nairobi, not just sales and support.
For the wider continent, it raises a hard question. If Microsoft can shut Lagos and cut deep into Nairobi within two and a half years, how much can African tech ecosystems rely on global giants for high-skill jobs? The answer may lie in the companies and talent these centres helped build, rather than in the centres themselves.
Microsoft promised Africa a $100 million engineering home in 2019. Seven years later, Lagos is gone and Nairobi is in doubt, and Kenya is now negotiating to keep what is left.
