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The tech giant will open a Nigerian office in H2 2021.

What does a Nigerian office mean for Facebook? | Pulse Nigeria

Motolani Alake

<h1>On September 18, 2020, Facebook announced that it will opening an office in Nigeria in H2 2021. The Lagos, Nigeria office would be the tech giant’s second African office. Facebook had been handling its African operations through its South African office, headed by Nunu Ntshingila-Njeke.&nbsp;</h1>

When the South African office launched in 2015, the key focus was on markets in Kenya, South Africa and Nigeria. Four years ago, CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg visited Nigeria and one of the places he visited was CCHub.&nbsp;

Since that time, Facebook has launched the NG_HUB with CCHub, to nurture African talent, provide a functional space for startups to collaborate and co-exist in symbiosis. It has also collaborated with companies like MainOne and MTN to build an internet infrastructure for Africa by laying cables and installing servers.&nbsp;

In May 2020, <a href="https://techpoint.africa/2020/05/15/facebook-internet-cable-africa/">Techpoint reported</a> about 2Africa, the $1 billion Facebook subsea project that aims to connect 16 African countries by 2024. With this, Facebook simply aims to further consolidate its interests in Africa and its such a perfect time.&nbsp;

In a chat with Oluwasola Obagbemi, Corporate Communications Manager for Anglophone West Africa at Facebook, Pulse Nigeria gathered that this move has been in the works for a minute.&nbsp;

She says, “The investment of the new Facebook office follows the 2018 opening of NG_Hub, our first flagship community hub space in Africa in partnership with CcHub, and the opening in 2019 of a Small Business Group (SBG) Operations Centre in Lagos, in partnership with Teleperformance.&nbsp;

“Naturally these things take time to set up, but we are excited about the possibilities that this will create, not just in Nigeria, but across Africa.”

While it is still some way off the 62.9% global benchmark, internet penetration in Africa now stands at a lofty 39.3% and Nigeria is a highly mobilized country - Facebook’s largest African market. Nigeria commands around 28 million of Facebook’s 131.2 million users on the continent.&nbsp;

Stats Counter also reports that based on usage between August 2019 and August 2020, 64.17% of the Nigerian population uses Facebook. Nonetheless, Facebook is banking on Nigeria, despite the potential of early recovery from the economic implications of COVID-19.&nbsp;

<h2>For perspective, why is Facebook coming to Nigeria?</h2>

Obagbemi says, “Opening our office in Nigeria reinforces our ongoing commitment to Africa and investment to the region. Five years on from opening our first office in Johannesburg, South Africa, this is the next natural step as we look to continue supporting the various communities we work with on the continent.

“Now is a better time than any. Africa, and specifically Nigeria presents new and exciting opportunities in digital innovations being developed from across the continent. All across Africa we’re seeing immense talent in the tech ecosystem, and we are proud that with this, we’ll be building for the future of Africa and beyond.

“We continue to remain committed to Africa, and our work and partnerships across the region.”

Obagbemi also says that this will also be the first office on the continent to house a team of expert engineers as part of Facebook’s New Product Experimentation team, who will be building for the future of Africa and beyond.&nbsp;

<h2>How could Nigerians benefit from this move?</h2>

On this, Obagbemi says that, “Nigeria is producing a new generation of start-ups that&nbsp;have incredible potential. We are invested in helping developers and content creators in Nigeria build for the next billion, and help take their content to Africa and the rest of the world.”

Nigeria can definitely expect a lot of Nigerian employees dependent on the candidate, the role and experience required.&nbsp;

<h2>How could content and entertainment benefit from this move?&nbsp;</h2>

COVID-19 blew a lot of things wide open in the tech world and everyday facets of life suddenly took on another level of importance. Amazon’s Twitch grew an influence in livestream and signed&nbsp;deals with distribution companies. TikTok and Triller then grew considerably in brand equity and user base.&nbsp;

But there might have been no bigger beneficiary from that occurrence than Facebook. First off, Instagram Live became a hotbed for performances and entertainment events. Things got so popular that Facebook had to intervene and regulate the use of intellectual property on Instagram Live events.&nbsp;

That tool in itself has added incredible bits of brand equity to Facebook. During the latest episode of Trapital, Dan Runcie and Cherie Hu discussed the rise of Facebook’s ability to monetize livestream.&nbsp;

In the same way, even though Variety reported in June 2019 that 140 million Facebook users spent at least one minute on Watch per day, and that watch had 720 million viewers per month.

However, Facebook Watch has not fully reached its full potential as regards brand equity. However, Instagram could really offer Facebook incredible leverage on the entertainment front.&nbsp;

Instagram Reels is directly integrated into every Instagram app. According to Stats Counter, 2.11% of the total Nigerian population uses Instagram.&nbsp;

Be that as it may, TikTok and Triller are not even close to those numbers and that offers Instagram Reels an incredible advantage due to the brand equity Instagram already possesses in Nigeria and across Africa. TikTok and Triller have been a huge hit with Gen Z crowds.&nbsp;

<a href="https://listenafrica.substack.com/p/the-global-obsession-with-short-form">Listen Africa newsletter</a> writes, “As reported by MRC, 52% of Gen Z between the ages of 13 and 23 used short-form video-sharing apps like TikTok and Triller. The biggest influencers on TikTok, for example are Charli D’Amelio, a 16-year-old with over 88 million followers and over 6.7 billion likes, and 19-year-old Bella Poarch has 25.3 million fans.&nbsp;

“Then in the music industry, MRC reports that 48% of the Gen Z of TikTok are mostly interested in music-inclined content. K-pop groups BTS and Blackpink have over 20.1 million and 17.8 million followers respectively on TikTok. The platform had also created No. hits, ‘The Box’ for Roddy Ricch, ‘Old Town Road’ by Lil Nas X, ‘Savage’ for Megan Thee Stallion and ‘Toosie Slide’ for Drake.”

Already, TikTok and Triller are already growing a reputation as incredible tools for marketing in music. Instagram Reels could be a more potent tool for music marketing, but it has to be marketed properly to the Nigerian entertainment industry, as a tool that is beyond funny videos.&nbsp;

Instagram Reels could also really impact Nollywood as regards movie trailers and blockbuster snippets. But again, the marketing has to be right.&nbsp;

More so, YouTube already launched YouTube Shorts and the product is already being tested in India.&nbsp;

Interestingly, <a href="https://www.pulse.ng/entertainment/music/beyonce-shows-facebook-can-make-make-more-money-off-the-music-industry-with-instagram/l256lx2">IGTV boasts a unique monetization opportunity </a>for Facebook and Pulse Nigeria examined that some weeks ago. With Beyonce’s label, Parkwood Entertainment already launching music videos on IGTV, Facebook could really do provide competition for rivals.&nbsp;

Speaking on Facebook’s mission, Obagbemi says, “Facebook's mission is clear: To give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together. Our mission in Nigeria is no different - we understand the importance of being local in a global world - and want to have a long-term impact.&nbsp;

“Our new office in Nigeria presents an important milestone which further reinforces our ongoing commitment to the region.&nbsp;

“With the new office in Lagos, we will be helping to expand how we service our clients across the continent as well as continuing to invest in and support local talent, and the various communities that use our platforms.”

With the imminent entry of Spotify into the Nigerian market, the podcast market could really be upstaged. Already, Nigeria saw <a href="https://www.pulse.ng/entertainment/music/tidal-partners-with-mtn-nigeria-for-streaming-service/e4y2f88">the entrance of TIDAL</a> into its market in third quarter 2020 as a partnership with MTN.&nbsp;

But Facebook has a unique opportunity to make podcast recording and distribution easy and straightforward in a way that could benefit the economic realities of Africa.&nbsp;

All that has to happen is to capitalize on the voice message feature of WhatsApp and WhatsApp messaging. Amazon and Apple have also made great inroads in the podcast market.

What does a Nigerian office mean for Facebook?

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