Facebook investments is not new to Nigeria, the company started making serious overtures as far back as 2015. The company was also the first social media platform to offer the option of paying in naira to Nigerian advertisers.
In 2016, Mark Zuckerberg founder of Facebook paid a surprise visit to Nigeria, an action that told many just how important the company sees Africa’s most populated country.
Today, out of the 91 million Nigerians online, 22 million of them are using Facebook every month. There are 7.2 million users from Nigeria visit the platform every day.
So last week at an event in Lagos, Facebook announced a series of initiatives as part of a grand plan to expand its portfolio in Nigeria.
Some of the initiatives announced include a series of partnerships with non-profits and finance institutions such as Fate Foundation, She Leads Africa (SLA), Africa Development Bank (AfDB) to train and empower small businesses in Nigeria to connect, share and grow online.
A statement sent to BusinessDay by Facebook, noted that an impact study carried out by the company, found that nearly 1 in 2 small businesses on Facebook in Nigeria built their business on the platform. Additionally, 87 percent of small businesses in Nigeria say digital skills are important when thinking about who they want to hire – even more important than where an applicant went to school. 62 percent stated they have been able to use Facebook to help find employees for their business, whilst over half (58 percent) of small businesses say they have been able to hire more employees’ due to growth since joining Facebook.
“This demonstrates that the power of digital skills to aid economic growth and development has never been more important,” said Ebele Okobi, Facebook Public Policy Director. “At Facebook, our mission is clear: to give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together. Our investments and commitments announced in Lagos today further reflect our intent to partner with Nigeria’s policy makers and its vibrant tech and entrepreneurial eco-system to create economic opportunity and independence in Nigeria and across Africa.”
Facebook is also looking to help the Nigeria tech space build a vibrant and viable ecosystem with the launch of NG_Hub. The hub – a partnership with Co-Creation Hub – will open its doors for enterprising techstart-ups from the beginning of 2018.
Facebook said that NG_Hub will unite developers, start-ups, entrepreneurs and the wider community to collaborate, learn and exchange ideas.
“Nigeria is producing a new generation of exciting start-ups that have incredible potential” said Emeka Afigbo, head of Platform Partnerships, Middle East & Africa. “We understand the important role Facebook plays here in Nigeria with developers and start-ups and are invested in helping these communities build for the next billion. One of our key passions at Facebook is nurturing and helping to develop the tech and startup community.”
