Ahmed Mazhari, president of Microsoft Asia, speaks during a press conference at the company's office in central Seoul, Monday. Courtesy of Microsoft Korea

US tech giant starts Microsoft Launcher program here

By Baek Byung-yeul

U.S. tech giant Microsoft kicked off its Microsoft Launcher program here in a bid to help nurture Korean startups, the company said, Monday. The company said Microsoft Launcher is specifically designed to help startups here as the program offers various benefits such as free access to its software, education and business counselling support as well as co-working office space.

Ahmed Mazhari, the president of Microsoft Asia, said the importance of the Asian market, including Korea, has emerged as recent innovations in various industries have come from this region.

"Two decades ago Korea's GDP was $627 billion, last year it recorded $1.8 trillion, demonstrating Korea's continuous growth. Microsoft believes that Korea is not only a dynamic market on the global stage, but also a potential game changer," Mazhari said during a press conference in its Korean unit's office in downtown Seoul.

He said the company has helped companies in Korea increase their productivity with its technology and that the Microsoft Launcher program will become a great accelerator for startups here.

"In Korea, we nurtured the potential of contactless education and video platform startups during the pandemic to build resilience in education for whoever wants to keep learning and connecting. Moreover, Microsoft helped transform the healthcare industry from the diagnosis phase through artificial intelligence," he said.

"With the introduction of Microsoft Launcher in Korea, which gives access to all the capabilities of the Microsoft platform needed to run your business and the developer tools you need to build your business, this is just the beginning, as we continue to drive significant investments and support for startups in the region," the president of the Asia region added.