Economic Empowerment:

Creating New Opportunities in Local Communities

Downtown, a new business opens its doors. It also opens possibilities for others to thrive in its wake. People are hired to work there. Local services are enlisted, from electricity to IT support to paperclip replenishment. New life is breathed into their corner of the marketplace, and new traffic flocks to that corner of the street. In ways large and small, the entire community benefits. At Microsoft, we believe in the necessity of empowering more fledgling enterprises and helping them create new livelihoods.

Collaborating with governments, local partners, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) around the world, Microsoft works to help countries put information and communications technology (ICT) to use in ways that improve the social and economic well-being of local populations. What we achieve in these global collaborations helps local environments realize new opportunities to replenish their markets and place their job corps. Products of these collaborations include:

The Shared Source Initiative: Spreading the success of ideas that work

Millions of consumers, businesses, and organizations worldwide use Microsoft products. We see a responsibility to develop technology based on commonly used standards and to make sure our products work well with those of other companies. The Shared Source Initiative was created in 2001 to enable us to make source code for key products more broadly available. By 2004, it included 17 different programs that provided source code to 1.5 million developers in more than 60 countries. More governments and customers received the support they sought. Developers around the world got access to information they needed to complete their own projects. University students, faculty, and researchers received source code and development tools vital to their research.

Partnerships: The mutual benefits of global, governmental, and individual connections

Microsoft is a very successful company, but our accomplishments depend on the success of thousands of other technology companies around the world. At the heart of our business model is our partnership with other companies that build hardware and software, provide solutions, and offer services based on the Windows platform. This network of 650,000 Microsoft partners creates jobs, generates tax revenues for governments, offers skills and workforce development programs, and makes significant investments in innovative new technologies. For every $1 of revenue that Microsoft earns, local software, hardware, and services firms earn, on average, between $6 and $18. Behind the numbers are people—people working, earning a living, and thriving in career paths that allow them to support families and pursue interests.

E-Government: Improving citizen access and strengthening communities

E-government is an increasingly important use of ICT as more and more governments worldwide look for ways to increase citizen engagement and improve citizen access to information and services. For example, Microsoft worked with the Egyptian government and three local ICT partners to deliver a unified gateway that eliminates red tape and paper-based systems for many services, and reduces the time citizens spend standing in line. The solution is expected to save up to 900,000 working hours annually.

Each of these efforts plays a vital part in supporting local, regional, and global strides to strengthen industries and marketplaces in ways that positively impact local people. The success of these efforts makes it easier for that new business downtown to open, to serve a community that needs it, and to bring a multitude of hopes for the future as the first customer walks through the door.