BY DAYO ADESULU
MyOffice, a Russian developer of office software for document collaboration and communication, has announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with the Government of the Republic of Guinea to supply 300 thousand MyOffice educational licenses for the needs of all schools in the country over 10 years.
The supply agreement was signed in the capital of Guinea, Conakry, with the support of Djene Kaba Condé, First Lady of the Republic of Guinea, and her charitable foundation Prosmi, representatives of the Government of the Republic of Guinea, and the Embassy of the Russian Federation in the Republic of Guinea and the Republic of Sierra Leone.
The Memorandum of Understanding was signed by Alpha Amadou Bano Barry, Minister of National Education and Literacy of the Republic of Guinea, and Jafar Hilali, founder and managing partner of Carousel Finance SA, a master distribution partner of MyOffice in Africa.
The document provides for the cooperation in the format of a public-private partnership. It was signed in connection with the national educational project implemented by the Government of the Republic of Guinea on the integration of information technologies in school education.
Under the terms of the agreement, Carousel Finance SA will provide educational institutions with 300 thousand licenses of the MyOffice Education Russian office software free of charge over the course of 10 years.
The Memorandum was signed during a business mission to the country, which entailed a series of meetings at the highest state level.
The parties discussed the current information security challenges faced by the Republic’s leadership, as well as the plans and outlook of national projects for the development of the digital economy and the education system in the Republic of Guinea. Integration of Russian office software into the state infrastructure will bolster the formation of the digital sovereignty of the country and will allow the Government of Guinea to expedite the transition to reliable and secure software providing the ability to fully control their own data.
The signing ceremony of the Memorandum of Understanding took place on the premises of the well-respected 1 March School of the Matam commune in the central part of Conakry. Djene Kaba Condé, First Lady of the Republic of Guinea, and Alpha Amadou Bano Barry, Minister of National Education and Literacy of the Republic of Guinea, were joined by Said Oumar Koulibaly, Minister of Post, Communication and Digital Economy, at the event.
“A few years ago, the Republic of Guinea embarked on the quest for the digitalization of the country. New computers are gradually appearing in the country’s schools, and over the next decade, we will completely overhaul the equipment in schools.
READ ALSO: AfDB Gets Vice President for Agriculture, Human and Social Development
At the same time, we are updating the school curriculum, creating a single standard for all educational institutions in Guinea. It is vital to us that software products should be running without issues on all school computers and mobile devices, which is why we do meticulous work to choose the right solutions.
MyOffice software works on all platforms and fully meets these requirements. Switching to it will help us achieve our goals faster and begin the transition to secure Russian software this year already,” said Alpha Amadou Bano Barry, Minister of National Education and Literacy of the Republic of Guinea.
“We have noted the high interest in MyOffice products in Africa. Governments in developing countries, including the Government of the Republic of Guinea, are seriously concerned about unauthorized access to user data that can occur when using public cloud services.
When choosing software products, our African partners set high requirements for information security, which Russian software fully meets.
The Memorandum we signed will provide the younger generation with barrier-free access to modern technology and will have a major impact on the development of digital literacy skills,” added Jafar Hilali, founder and managing partner of Carousel Finance SA, a master distribution partner of MyOffice in Africa.
“Alpha Condé, President of Guinea, said five years ago at the Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum that Guinea was ready to become a gateway to West Africa for Russia.
It is always pleasant when the actions suit the words, as we have seen with our own eyes here. The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding can serve as confirmation of the fact that the country’s leadership is ready for trade and economic cooperation with Russia.
We hope that the provision of MyOffice Russian software products to schools will be the first step to long, fruitful cooperation, will help the Government of the Republic of Guinea in implementing its national projects faster and contribute to the growth of computer literacy of the population,” stated Gleb Cheglakov, managing partner of Carousel Finance SA.
“Guinea is one of the few countries in Africa where, according to the World Bank, more than 91% of children are enrolled in schools. At the same time, the country’s population keeps growing steadily, with over 13 million people living in the country today.
The Government of Guinea is vitally interested in providing its citizens with quality education and makes great efforts to improve its accessibility and provide schools with modern technology.
We are happy to participate in such a project and are ready to support the country’s educational initiatives and discuss options for expanding the Russian-Guinean cooperation,” said Dmitry Komissarov, general director of MyOffice.
