Facebook has selected Nigeria as the location of its first small business council on the African continent, launching the support structure for businesses in the West African country.
The council is aimed at supporting small and medium-sized businesses throughout Africa, with Facebook Africa’s small business council and Nigerian business owners from a range of industries brought together for the benefit of the small business economy in the country, according to ITNewsAfrica.
The partnership is designed to provide better digital tools for business and customer growth that these businesses can leverage.
The council is made up of 15 startups and established small businesses that operate across a number of industries in the Nigerian cities of Lagos, Abuja and Enugu and Kano.
Original members of Facebook’s Nigerian small business council include the likes of Paylater, DigitxPlus, Easyshop Easycook, Hush’D, Mamalette, Bombay to Beirut, GIGM.com, Ìkòkò, and STM Magical Creations Ltd, according to The Eagle.
The Nigerian small business council joins 10 other councils set up by Facebook around the world, which includes North America, Ireland, U.K., Germany, France, Italy, Sweden, Poland, India and Brazil, reports NewsGuru.
Speaking at the launch, Abi Williams, Facebook’s small business sales manager for the Middle East and Africa explained why Nigeria was chosen as the first council in Africa.
“Small businesses form the backbone of most of the thriving economies in the world, driving sustainable growth and creating jobs, and those in Nigeria are no different,” Williams said, according to NigeriaCommunicationsWeek.
“Facebook is strategically positioned to help SME’s grow their businesses, and with a vibrant SME sector, Nigeria was a natural choice in launching our very first SME Council on the African continent,” she added.
“With 35 million people in other countries connected to a Nigerian business on Facebook, the global market has never been closer for Nigerian SMEs,” she said.
In September Facebook announced plans to roll out its Developer Circles initiative in four cities across South Africa, which serves to allow members to interact and learn about developing on the social media platform.
The free community-driven initiative will now be available to developers in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and Pretoria, according to BizCommunity.
With over 70 groups operating across the globe, the South African cities now join other African groups that are already operational in Cairo, Casablanca, Dakar, Harare, Lagos, Nairobi and Tunis.
Developer Circles members meet up on a regular basis to discuss projects that they are working on, assist each other in solving problems and educating themselves on Facebook-related issues such as chatbots in Messenger.
