Facebook launches tech hub in Nigeria

Facebook officially announced its plans to open a community hub in Nigeria in 2018. The US social media giant will open a community hub which aims to train 50 000 students and SMEs across the country.

Scheduled to open early in 2018 in the heart of Lagos, the new hub will be Facebook’s first tech space in Africa. The hub will be a multi-faceted creative space that will connect and support developers, start-ups and the wider community and allow them to collaborate, learn and exchange ideas.

Nigeria’s digital economy is slowly gaining momentum to become a giant in Africa’s future technology. The industry received a positive boost when Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg visited the country in 2016. Zuckerberg visited Yaba, also known as the “Silicon Valley of Nigeria”, where he met with business founders and developers.

More than 22 million Nigerians use Facebook on a monthly basis and small businesses consider digital skills to be more important than where an applicant went to school. This demonstrates that digital skills aid economic growth and the development thereof remains an important factor.