Facebook Plans to Open Second Africa Office in Lagos, Nigeria by 2021

Facebook has announced that plans are underway for a new office in Nigeria’s technology capital, Lagos. The office will be Facebook’s second office in Africa, the first was opened in Johannesburg, South Africa in 2015.

According to Facebook, the Nigeria office is expected to become operational in the second half of 2021. Facebook says this is part of its continued efforts to support the Sub-Saharan Africa region and Africa at large.

Nunu Ntshingila, Regional Director, Facebook Africa said: “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.”

The Nigeria office will host a team of seasoned expert engineers as well as teams from across Sales, Communications, Partnerships and Policy to help build the future of technology in Africa and beyond.

Speaking on Facebook’s plans, Ime Archibong, Facebook’s Head of New Product Experimentation said: “The opening of our new office in Lagos, Nigeria presents new and exciting opportunities in digital innovations to be developed from the continent and taken to the rest of the world.”

“All across Africa we’re seeing immense talent in the tech ecosystem, and I’m proud that with the upcoming opening of our new office, we’ll be building products for the future of Africa, and the rest of the world, with Africans at the helm. We look forward to contributing further to the African tech ecosystem,” he added.

Since opening its first Africa office in 2015, Facebook has made a number of investments across Africa to grow and expand the tech ecosystem. The company partnered with CcHub in 2018 to launch NG_Hub to lead tech talent development in Nigeria.

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The recent rollout of its SMB Grants programme in Nigeria and South Africa is targeted at supporting over 900 businesses by providing a combination of cash and ad credits to help small businesses as they rebuild from COVID.

Also, Facebook’s $1 billion 2Africa project is in the works. The company is collaborating with telco giants including MTN and Orange to build the world’s largest subsea cable project to speed up internet connectivity across Africa.

In 2019, Facebook partnered with Teleperformance to open a Small Business Group (SBG) Operations Centre in Lagos. The SBG centre supports the growth and development of SMBs by offering outsourced support to all English-speaking advertisers across Sub-Saharan Africa and through its Advocacy, Community & Education (ACE) programme.

Although Facebook’s new office in Nigeria is indicative of the company’s tech development plans for Africa, it also reveals the huge business market and proliferation of talent in Nigeria’s tech space.