Facebook targets African internet users with new office
Facebook is setting its sights on Africa for future growth with plans to open its first office on the continent.
Based in Johannesburg the new unit will play host to 25 employees initially and will be headed by marketing industry stalwart Nunu Ntshingila, with the aim of concentrating efforts on Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa.
As part of this effort Facebook has been seeking to bring the internet to more Africans through its internet.org programme, by offering free connectivity to key websites such as Wikipedia and BBC News… as well as Facebook.
Nicola Mendelsohn, Facebook vice president for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, commented: "Mobile is not a trend; it’s the fastest development in communications we’ve ever seen. This couldn’t be more true in Africa – where so many people are mobile-only. Facebook is already a central part of people’s lives in Africa, and with more than a billion people in Africa, we want to do more to help people and businesses connect."
There are currently around 120m Africans signed up to Facebook but with a population of 1bn and rising growth opportunities are huge – a far cry from the developed world where the social media platform has reached near saturation.