Last Updated on September 6, 2016 by Larious
When I heard Mark Zuckerberg was in Lagos mainland Nigeria I couldn’t believe until I saw photos of him in CoCreation Hub, He came to Nigeria low-key and the first place he visited was Cc hub at sabo yaba, it shows he really appreciate Nigerian developers. I heard he arrived Lagos yesterday afternoon.
Sources said there would be a Facebook Live event today, but that is not the primary reason(s) Mark Zuckerberg is in Nigeria. According to APO, he is also in Nigeria to listen, learn and take ideas back to California on how Facebook can better support tech development and entrepreneurship across Africa. He would be using his time in the country to visit the Yaba technology hub in Lagos, meet with developers and partners, and explore Nollywood.
One of his first stops on the trip was to visit a ‘Summer of Code Camp’ at the Co-Creation Hub (CcHub) in Yaba, known as the Silicon Valley of Nigeria.
At CcHub Zuckerberg met with developers like Temi Giwa, who runs a platform called Life Bank (http://www.LifeBank.ng) that makes blood available when and where it is needed in Nigeria. Life Bank saves lives by mobilizing blood donations, taking inventory of all blood available in the country, and delivering blood in the right condition to where it is needed.
After visiting CcHub Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, said:
“This is my first trip to sub-Saharan Africa. I’ll be meeting with developers and entrepreneurs, and learning about the startup ecosystem in Nigeria. The energy here is amazing and I’m excited to learn as much as I can.
“The first place I got to visit was the Co-creation Hub Nigeria (CcHUB) in Yaba. I got to talk to kids at a summer coding camp and entrepreneurs who come to CcHub to build and launch their apps. I’m looking forward to meeting more people in Nigeria.”
MEETING DEVELOPERS AT ANDELA
Mark then went to Andela, an engineering organization that is building the next generation of technical leaders in Africa.
Andela is a business that recruits the most talented technologists in Africa and shapes them into world-class developers through a four-year technical leadership program.
Earlier this year, the Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative invested in Andela after being impressed by the company’s innovative model of learning and its drive to connect the global technology ecosystem with the most talented developers in Africa.
Seni Sulyman, Director, Andela Lagos, said: “
We are excited and honored to welcome Mark Zuckerberg to Lagos. His visit reinforces not only his support of Andela’s mission, but his belief that indeed the next generation of great technology leaders will come out of Lagos, Nigeria and cities across Africa. Andela has created a platform for passionate, driven software developers and engineers to break into the global tech ecosystem, but the barriers to entry are still very high. Mark’s visit demonstrates to all Nigerian developers and entrepreneurs that they’ve caught the attention of the tech world, and they are capable of succeeding on a truly global level.”
At the end of the day, Zuckerberg stopped by an Express WiFi stand in Lagos owned by Rosemary Njoku. Facebook’s Express WiFi lets entrepreneurs like Rosemary set up a hot spot to help their community access apps and services built by local developers.
