Social Media giant, Facebook has announced that it would be opening its second office in Africa and first on the continent to house software engineers via an office in Lagos by 2021. According to Nunu Ntshingila, Regional Director, Facebook Africa, “We’re delighted to be announcing our new office in Nigeria. Five years on from opening our first office on the continent in Johannesburg, South Africa, we’re continuing to invest in and support local talent, as well as the various communities that use our platforms. The office in Lagos will also be key in helping to expand how we service our clients across the continent.”
As part of their ongoing investments in Africa, Facebook disclosed that the office will be home to several teams across their business including Sales, Partnerships, Policy and Communications. It will also be the first office on the continent with a team of engineers. The office will support the Sub-Saharan region and is expected to become operational in H2 2021.
This new office which will follow the 2018 opening of NG_Hub, their first community hub space in Africa in partnership with CcHub, and the 2019 opening of Small Business Group (SBG) Operations Centre in Lagos, in partnership with Teleperformance. The SBG office supports small and medium businesses across Sub-Saharan Africa through community programs as well as marketing training programs, all aimed at enabling SMBs to accelerate the growth and development of their businesses.
According to fb.com, "Since the opening of our first Africa office in 2015, we’ve made a number of investments across the continent to support the tech ecosystem, provide reliable connectivity infrastructures and help businesses grow locally, regionally and globally. These include:
Our SMB Grants program in Nigeria and South Africa, which provides a combination of cash and ad credits to help over 900 small businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The development of 2Africa, the world’s largest subsea cable project that will deliver much-needed internet capacity and reliability across large parts of Africa.
And ongoing training programs across the continent which support students, SMBs, digital creatives, female entrepreneurs, start-ups and developers".
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