On the 24th of July, Google Nigeria announced new products and features to make Google more helpful to more people in Nigeria and across Africa at the third annual Google for Nigeria event.

The Country Manager, Google Nigeria Juliet Ehimuhan shared the work that is been done in Nigeria and Africa by Google in building capacity and solving challenges faced by Africans. On Digital Skills, Google has trained 4M out of a 10M commitment. So far we have trained 15K developers. Google aims to train 60 startups over 3years through the Launchpad Accelerator Africa, an initiative of Google. Since launching last year, 35 startups have graduated and they have created 385 jobs& raised $19-million. Google Foundation is committing $4 million from to support youth empowerment, gender equality and agriculture, alongside piloting new initiatives to power the social impact ecosystem and promoting research on what the future of work looks like for African youth.

As part of Google’s drive to increase awareness on online protection for young kids, Google announced that, in partnership with the Nigerian Government, an online safety curriculum will be made available to all Primary and Secondary school students in the country; reaching an estimated 56 Million Nigerian students every year.

Among the products and features displayed at the event includes

Google Maps is introducing a dedicated travel mode to provide directions and navigation for motorcycles in Nigeria, Benin Republic, Ghana, Rwanda, Togo and Uganda. Google is also launching navigation instructions in a Nigerian voice for both motorcycle and car driving modes so that local names and places get pronounced as they should be.

Travelling through Lagos, one of Africa’s busiest cities is often a challenge with unpredictable factors that affect journey times. In the next few months, Google will introduce a new directions experience for Lagos optimized for informal transit, bringing Danfo routes into Google Maps.

Google Lens helps people read, translate, and search the words they see just using their camera. You can open Lens, point it at a sign, and listen to the words read out loud.

Bolo, a speech-based reading app with one on one assistance to help kids learn how to read is coming to Nigeria and Ghana. The app encourages kids aged 6-11 to read out loud and then provides feedback to help improve their reading capabilities.

Gallery Go, a light and fast gallery designed to work offline. It keeps your photos organized, makes them look great, and doesn’t use up all your data. Soon, one will be able to access the Assistant directly from Google Go. Using only your voice, one will be able to ask Google to call someone or play a music video.

Google Arts & Culture cooked up a project, “Come Chop Bellefull: A Taste of Nigeria,” that pays tribute to Nigeria’s vibrant and diverse food culture that spans generations and geography. You can explore Nigerian regional cooking and culture through 2,000 high-resolution images and 30 stories created in collaboration with The Centenary Project at the Pan-Atlantic University.

Supporting Nigerian musicians, YouTube announced a commitment to support emerging talent in Nigeria. In the initial phase, YouTube is teaming up with Nigerian music star, Mr. Eazi and the emPawa initiative to support 10 emerging Nigerian music artists to build their craft, increase their fanbase and connect with the world through YouTube.