Twitter Snubs Nigeria, Opens First African Office in Ghana

Twitter has announced plans to set an African office in Ghana. The new development was revealed by its CEO Jack Dorsey, via a tweet today.

“Twitter is now present on the continent. Thank you, Ghana and Nana Akufo-Addo,” he said.

With the upcoming launch, the office in Ghana will mark Twitter’s first physical presence in Africa.

The company also plans to hire its first product team in Africa. In a blog post, Twitter says it is actively building a team to help it be more immersed in the rich and vibrant communities that drive the conversations taking place every day across the continent.

It indicated several roles from product and engineering to design, marketing, and communications for job openings in the company.

According to Twitter, individuals will fill these roles remotely as it makes plans to establish a physical office in the country later.

Twitter Snubs Nigeria

When Dorsey initially visited Africa with his Twitter team in November 2019, Nigeria was one of the countries he visited. He met with industry leaders and tech stakeholders and discussed matters related to tech and Twitter on the continent.

Other countries he visited included Ghana, Ethiopia, and South Africa.

However, it appears that Nigeria didn’t make a good enough impression on the Twitter boss as the company opted for Ghana instead of Nigeria or South Africa.

According to Twitter, the decision to kick off its African expansion with Ghana stems from the country’s dealings with AfCFTA and its openness towards the internet.

“As a champion for democracy, Ghana is a supporter of free speech, online freedom, and the Open Internet, of which Twitter is also an advocate. Furthermore, Ghana’s recent appointment to host The Secretariat of the African Continental Free Trade Area aligns with our overarching goal to establish a presence in the region that will support our efforts to improve and tailor our service across Africa,” the statement read.

However, the recent regulatory battles startups in the countries are facing with crypto ban among others could have affirmed the company’s decision to select a country with a better ease of doing business.

The job roles that were sent out by Twitter even points to the fact that Nigeria is still a major focus for the company.

The Company released an opening for a Curator Lead – Editorial, with a focus on Nigeria as the requirements include a lead who can speak English Pidgin, Yoruba and Igbo.

There is also the Data Scientist Curation whose focus is also Nigeria. All this points to the fact that the Office might as well been put in Nigeria.

Recognizing the launch of Twitter as a big win, Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo, enthused about the announcement. According to him, the choice of Ghana as HQ for Twitter’s Africa operations is excellent news. Government and Ghanaians welcome very much this announcement and the confidence reposed in our country.

In summary,

The launch of Twitter in Africa is an effort to expand its workforce in emerging markets where the social-media company hopes to attract new users.

Kayvon Beykpour, Twitter’s head of product, called the effort an “exciting” part of the company’s growth strategy. Dorsey on his part has said he wants to better understand Africa’s internet users, many of whom are moving online for the first time.