Mark Zuckerberg’s two-day visit to Nigeria has
done a lot for the country; it is a pity no
government official or agency has tried to tap
into the gains of that visit. He arrived at a
time there was much talk about economic
recession, concerns about companies folding
up or retrenching staff, or international
investors leaving the country in droves, out of
frustration with the uncertainties in the
system. Zuckerberg’s arrival raised our hopes:
co-founder of Facebook and the 5 th richest
man in the world, sneaked into Nigeria to
meet with developers and entrepreneurs and to
discuss investments in Nigeria’s growing start-
up ecosystem. And for two days, he went
round the city of Lagos, visiting start-ups and
interacting with young entrepreneurs.
The way Nigeria is often painted abroad, and
in those travel advisories that foreign
ministries issue, you would think Nigeria is
such an unsafe place where kidnappers are
permanently on the prowl. Zuckerberg helped
to show the rest of the world that Nigeria is
not so bad at all, and that something really
exciting is happening here among the
country’s young population. He had no
bodyguards. He did not have to hire a lorry
load of Nigerian policemen to keep watch over
him. He trekked on the streets of Lagos,
surrounded by a few of his hosts. On
Wednesday morning, he jogged across the
Ikoyi-Lekki bridge. He ate pounded yam,
shrimps, snails (I thought they said he is a
vegan!) and jollof rice (Nigerian jollof (!) not
that one from Ghana). His visit went
smoothly. More investors may well be
encouraged to visit Nigeria too, seeing how
confidently a whole $53.7 billion walked freely
about in Nigeria, and he was not stolen or
kidnapped.
Zuckerberg’s visit also provided great publicity
for Nigeria’s emerging Silicon Valley, and the
young entrepreneurs to whom Zuckerberg paid
compliments. He has already invested in a
Nigerian start-up, Andela, and he has made
friends with other young Nigerians, the guys
behind Jobberman and C-Creation Hub
(CcHUB) and so many others. Zuckerberg cut
the picture throughout his visit of a true
inspirational figure. His simplicity and
humility was impressive. He kept going about
in a T-shirt, and interacted freely with
everyone he met.
Many young Nigerians can learn from his
example: the way some people whose biggest
possession is a laptop sometimes carry their
shoulders in the sky, if they were to be half of
what Zuckerberg is, they won’t just claim that
they are voltrons or overlords, they will look
for more intimidating labels. But Mark
Zuckerberg, who is just 32, shows that it is
not all about money, or influence, character
matters. There is no doubt that his hosts were
also impressed with him. And that probably
explains the protest that greeted the attempt
by CNN International and American artiste,
Tyrese Gibson, to refer to the visit as
Zuckerberg’s visit to sub-Saharan Africa.
Young Nigerians kept shouting back that
Zuckerberg is in Nigeria, not sub-Saharan
Africa! They wanted the publicity for their
country.
Inspired by Zuckerberg’s visit as the tech
entrepreneurs in Nigeria’s Silicon Valley may
have been, the Nigerian government should
see in the visit, and the excitement that it has
generated, the need to provide greater support
for technological innovation in the country.
There are many young Nigerians out there
who are gifted, hardworking and innovative.
They belong to the 21st Century. They are
aggressive. They want to operate at the
international level and become superstars.
They have ideas. They are ready and willing.
The basic thing that government owes them is
to provide an enabling environment for their
talents to flower. It has taken a few young
men and ladies to bring Mark Zuckerberg to
Nigeria. There are other young Nigerians doing
wonderful things in other sectors of the
economy who can save this country if they are
given the chance. There is also a large army
of untapped and yet-to-be-discovered talents,
whose future we cannot afford to waste.
Investment in education will help. Uncommon
sense will make things happen.
Zuckerberg’s visit also did a lot for
Nollywood. He described Nollywood as “a
national treasure”. That statement should be
framed and sent to every major agency in the
private and public sectors in Nigeria. He may
not yet have invested in Nollywood, but there
was no doubt that the members of Nollywood
and other celebrities who met with him
appreciated their being recognized by one of
the most successful young men of the 21st
century. I watch Nollywood movies, but I don’t
think I have ever seen those Nollywood stars
who met with Zuckerberg smile that heartily
and broadly - not even in the movies. The
ones who did not bare their 32, were staring
at the Facebook ambassador in that typical
Nigerian fashion: “ah, see money, Mark, abi
make I send you script make you sponsor?”
The way the visit went, if Mark Zuckerberg had
wanted a Nigerian wife, or girlfriend, he would
have been met at every turn with echoes of
“Yes, Yes, Yes…come and hold something.” But
he is already married. So, don’t worry, Priscilla
Chan (Mark’s wife), your husband is safe,
Nigerian ladies will only admire him, they
don’t mean any harm, and they won’t initiate
him into coded runs. But of course you trust
him - you know he is not Justin Bieber. But
money is good oh. After money, it is money.
Ha, Ori lonise, eda ko la’ropin o, Edumare funmi
ni money…
Altogether, it was a great business outing for
Zuckerberg and Facebook. Over 16 million
Nigerians are on Facebook, it is the largest
and most influential social media platform in
the country; on a daily basis, over 7 million
Nigerians log onto the website. Many more
are on whatsapp, another Facebook acquired
platform. With Zuckerberg’s visit, that number
is bound to grow. The strategic friendships
and partnerships that he has been able to
build is a demonstration of power and
influence: Facebook is on the ground in
Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa,
and he has taken that further by visiting
Kenya - look beyond the T-shirt, this young
American billionaire is building constituencies
and spheres of influence across Africa; he is
exploring new markets and staying ahead of
the competition in a continent that many
other investors may overlook, or desert for
reasons of inconvenience.
As a business strategy, Mark Zuckerberg’s
exploration of the African market is brilliant. It
may be the subject someday of a
Management, Leadership and Marketing Class.
Businesses must innovate, innovate and
innovate and the best way to do that is
through people. Nigerian entrepreneurs have
a lot to learn in this regard: the mindset of
the business leader is the soul of strategy.
There are too many thermostatic leaders in
the Nigerian business environment, and that is
why at the slightest confrontation with hard
choices, they close shop and run. Here is Mark
Zuckerberg, in the face of proven recession, he
wants to support start-ups and SMEs in
Nigeria; at a time others are fleeing, he is
coming into Nigeria and Africa. He is smart.
Wicked problems in a business environment
should inspire genius, change and innovation.
That is what leadership is all about.
Beyond business and culture, there was a
small political side to the Zuckerberg visit.
The Facebook CEO had said Facebook will
promote the use of Hausa Language, some
reports indicated he had said he loves Hausa
language, and then a storm followed, resulting
in a hot, healthy spat between two friends,
colleagues and brothers of mine, Femi Fani-
Kayode (@realFFK) and Reno Omokri (@
renoomokri), with one claiming that Americans
are promoting Northern hegemony (John
Kerry, now Zuckerberg and Facebook), and the
other saying it is not a big deal, and in the
exchange, we got some lectures about
Nigeria’s ethnic and hegemonic politics.
On Wednesday at a town hall meeting,
Zuckerberg more or less edited himself by
saying “I am glad we support Hausa, and we
are planning on supporting more languages
soon.” He didn’t specify what those other
languages are. I hope he knows Nigeria has
over 400 languages and ethnic groups, and
they all form part of the Nigerian Facebook
community. He should tread carefully here,
because I am not too sure Facebook can
adopt Yoruba language before Igbo, or vice
versa, without a social media war on its
hands, and if Facebook chooses to
accommodate the three major languages in
Nigeria, it could be confronted with a major
battle over minority rights on its platform. We
are like that in this country, Mark.
But the difference is that Mark Zuckerberg is
not a politician, he has voted only once (in
2008) and he doesn’t make political
statements, except when business interests are
at stake. Eyin boys, FFK and Reno, Zuckerberg
doesn’t really care about the local fights we
fight: he wants to create new markets and if
promoting Hausa on Facebook will create
more customers in that part of Nigeria, so be
it. And in case religion is part of that politics,
it doesn’t concern him either, he was born
Jewish, but he is a self-declared atheist. If he
worships any religion, it is the religion of
Facebook. In Nigeria, he has Igbos, Yorubas
and other Nigerians working for him
He is interested in their intellect not where
they come from. One more thing: The
Nigerian government snubbed him or did he
snub our government? When he got to Kenya,
he was received at the airport by the Cabinet
Secretary of Information and Communications
and later given a delicious lunch of fish, semo
and soup no Nigerian
government official offered him common
sachet water and yet he was here to create
jobs and markets! We shouldn’t frighten him
away with our politics! The good news,
though, is that he is a humanist even if a
secular humanist: End of story.
Thank you Marky, for the visit and for giving
us a good story to tell.
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