Facebook is making plans to open a “community hub space” in Nigeria next year to encourage software developers and technology entrepreneurs and become the latest technology giant to pursue a training program in fast-growing Africa.
The U.S. social giant said the center would host an “incubator program” to help develop technology start-ups, while it will also train 50,000 Nigerians in digital skills.
Now a days, technology companies are getting attracted to Africa’s rapid population growth, falling data costs and heavy adoption of mobile phones rather than PCs to attract more users.
Facebook as not revealed the details of the period over which its planned training would take place in Nigeria, which is Africa’s most populous country with 180 million inhabitants.
Emeka Afigbo, Facebook’s regional head of platform partnership, said in a statement, “We understand the important role Facebook plays here in Nigeria with developers and start-ups and are invested in helping these communities.”
Facebook said in a statement, the training – aimed at software developers, entrepreneurs and students – would be offered in cities including the capital, Abuja, Port Harcourt in the south, Calabar in the southeast and Kaduna in the north.
Last year Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg visited technology companies in Lagos and his charitable foundation provided $24 million to Andela, which trains developers.
He said the company aimed to train 10 million people across the continent in online skills over the next five years. He also added it hoped to train 100,000 software developers in Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa.
Although Africa may not offer as much opportunity to add consumers as China or India, because large wealth gaps mean that many people in places like Nigeria have little disposable income, Facebook said more than 22 million people already use its social media website every month in Nigeria.
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