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Microsoft Fully Back after Global Service Disruption
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American multinational technology conglomerate – Microsoft – has confirmed that its services have been fully restored following a worldwide outage that disrupted access to several of its products, including Outlook, Teams and Copilot, across more than 70 countries.
The technology company announced early Saturday that it had completed work to resolve the underlying technical problem, assuring customers that the affected services were operating normally again.
The outage, which began on Thursday, affected businesses, government institutions and individual users, with more than 430 million people worldwide relying on the products involved.
Microsoft attributed the disruption to a problem introduced during a “network capacity upgrade”. The company also ruled out a cyber-attack or an artificial intelligence agent as the cause and apologised to customers for the incident.
The widespread disruption exposed the dependence of businesses and essential public services on a handful of major technology providers, with experts describing the incident as a “stark reminder” of the risks associated with that reliance.
Several countries reported significant disruptions as the technical problems persisted for almost 24 hours before services began recovering on Friday afternoon UK time.
Peter Pentz, a winemaker in South Africa, said the outage had brought virtually every aspect of his business to a “standstill”.
He explained that communication relating to his winery’s exports had been disrupted, while essential production activities were suspended because the Cape West Coast-based business depended on Microsoft’s systems for some of its daily operations.
The outage also affected individuals with important personal transactions to complete.
Georgia, from Staffordshire in England, said she had been preparing to complete her first house purchase after waiting eight months for the process to reach its final stage. However, the Microsoft disruption threatened to delay the transaction.
“The solicitor mentioned there may be a delay due to not being able to contact other agencies,” she said.
“We’re not the only one completing today – there are hundreds of houses and for them to ring everyone in time is unfeasible.”
BBC
Africa has the engineering talent. The challenge is connecting it to global technology opportunities.
Nigerian company ChipMango is bridging this gap through specialised training and practical semiconductor design projects, creating pathways for African engineers to participate in the global chip industry.
Through Boost Africa, the EIB, AfDB and EU are strengthening the investment ecosystem supporting innovative African businesses.
Watch the video to discover how ChipMango is turning African engineering talent into global opportunities.
Fidelity Bank Plc, a leading financial institution, has reinforced its commitment to Africa’s growing creative economy as an Official Trade Partner at CANEX WKND 2026, held from 5 to 8 November 2026 at the Wole Soyinka Centre for Culture and Creative Arts, Lagos.
The four-day event brought together creative entrepreneurs, investors, industry leaders and other stakeholders to explore opportunities across Africa’s rapidly evolving creative industries.
The bank’s participation demonstrated the importance of connecting creative talent with finance, business infrastructure, digital solutions and access to local and international markets.
Speaking to journalists at the event, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Fidelity Bank Plc, Dr. Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe, said the bank’s participation underscored its commitment to building sustainable creative enterprises.
“Fidelity Bank is pleased to be here, as our participation reflects our commitment to growing Africa’s creative economy. Africa is blessed with extraordinary creative talent, but talent alone does not automatically translate into successful businesses. Creative entrepreneurs certainly need financial capital and the right funding to help viable businesses grow and unlock the full economic potential of our creative industries, we must think about capital more broadly.
“This means investing in human capital by developing skills and entrepreneurial capabilities; deploying productive capital by providing access to tools, equipment and infrastructure; and building social and market capital by connecting creatives to networks, customers and commercial opportunities. Finally, we must strengthen institutional capital – the business structures, financial identity and discipline required for sustainable enterprise.”
At the Fidelity CreatiVerse Pavilion at the event, visitors experienced a vibrant showcase of Nigerian creativity featuring fashion brands OHIOLE LAGOS and SuperDiva by Valerie, as well as works by visual artistes, Emmanuel Anaiye Ifebunmi and Donald Onuoha.
Beyond showcasing creative talent, the pavilion served as a platform for business engagement, with seasoned financial experts from the bank teams providing information on SME financing, digital payments, cards, trade and export solutions, as well as account opening and other customer onboarding services.
A major highlight of the Bank’s participation was the SME Banking-led masterclass themed, “Beyond Funding: Building the Infrastructure for Africa’s Creative Economy,” which attracted over 120 participants.
The session brought together creative industry practitioners and banking professionals to examine some of the key challenges facing creative enterprises, including access to finance, production infrastructure, skills development, market access and long-term business sustainability.
Central to the discussion was CreatiVerse at the Fidelity SME Hub in Gbagada, Lagos, the bank’s proposition designed to provide creative entrepreneurs with access to production facilities, learning opportunities and collaborative spaces.
Featuring music, photography, podcast and content production studios, alongside training and business development opportunities, CreatiVerse reflects Fidelity Bank’s ecosystemic approach to supporting creative entrepreneurs with resources that extend beyond conventional financial services.
The Bank is also expanding opportunities for Nigerian businesses seeking access to international markets through its trade and export banking services and initiatives such as the Fidelity Nigeria International Trade and Creative Connect (FNITCC), which connects Nigerian enterprises with international buyers, investors and strategic partners.
Through this combination of financial solutions, capacity development, business infrastructure and market access, Fidelity Bank continues to support the development of stronger and more commercially sustainable creative businesses. The Bank’s participation at CANEX WKND 2026 further reinforces its commitment to empowering entrepreneurs and creating opportunities for Nigerian businesses to grow, thrive and prosper.
Ranked among the best banks in Nigeria, Fidelity Bank Plc is a full-fledged Commercial Deposit Money Bank serving over 14 million customers through digital banking channels, its 255 business offices in Nigeria and United Kingdom subsidiary, FidBank UK Limited.
The Bank is a recipient of multiple local and international awards, including the 2025 Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN) Innovation Award for MSME support; Best Retail and SME Bank Award from Independent Newspapers; Best Bank for Export & Trade Finance and Most Innovative Bank of the Year at the 2025 BusinessDay Banks and Financial Institutions (BAFI) Awards; and Nigeria’s Best Private Bank at the 2025 Euromoney Awards. The Bank also received the inaugural Most Improved Commercial Bank of the Year award by Nairametrics, the SME Bank of the Year award by NewsDirect, and the Straight-Through Processing (STP) Excellence Award by Citi Group, in addition to recognition by Global Brands Magazine for Excellence in Community Empowerment.
Building a technology company is challenging. Building one in a highly
specialised field such as semiconductor
engineering requires even more: technical
expertise, access to industry tools, investment and strong partnerships.
ChipMango’s journey offers insight into
what it takes to develop a business in this emerging area of African innovation. It
also illustrates why access to appropriate
financing is essential for companies operating in specialised technology sectors.
The European Investment Bank’s
Boost Africa initiative supports this
ecosystem by investing through venture capital funds that back innovative African businesses.
Watch the video to discover ChipMango’s ambitions and the role investment can play in helping deep-tech companies grow.
Watch the video:
