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According to CNN Mark Zuckerberg has just made his first visit to
‘Sub-Sahara-Africa’ to witness the impact of his Facebook social media
enterprise and to promote his Express WIFI internet service.
One should point it out to the CNN journalists and researchers,
probably graduates from fourth-grade American universities, that there
really isn’t a place called ‘Sub-Sahara-Africa’ anymore as it’s
populated with countries that have names like ‘Nigeria’.
So Billionaire Mark Zuckerberg arrives in Nigeria, incognito, wearing
his trademark low-key T-shirt and jeans and casually strolls into the
Yaba offices of Co-creation Hub and Andela.
For future reference someone ought to tell him that if you’re 54
billion dollar Golden Goose you don’t go walk about in Yaba. The area
boys there will jump you, mug you and kidnap you – bodyguards or not!
But yet again nobody probably told him that if you’re a Tech Giant in
Nigeria ( – do we have any?) you’re supposed to arrive in an entourage
comprising of gun-toting policemen, bullet-proof 4X4s, a bevy of
hanger-ons – and of course the full red carpet treatment.
But yet again our mentalities are different. When a Black Man has
mega-money he suddenly thinks he’s the King of the Universe, struts
around like a peacock on heat, reeking of ostentatious luxury and
expects everyone to bow down and kiss his feet. Whereas the White Man
thinks ‘well I’m stupendously rich but I still want to live my simple
life’. Big difference. Money doesn’t make a person!
Whilst we might be ‘fantastically corrupt’ as ex-PM British Cameron
once referred to us, the world – and tech giants – are watching us
carefully, especially our youths who are a dab hand at computers, coding
and social media( – not forgetting the antics of the yahoo yahoo 419
boys for which we’re infamously known worldwide!). Nigeria has the
largest online social media base and its growing, perpetuating every
aspect of lives. Growth is greater in Africa than it is in the rest of
the world. For marketers and developers this is paradise: a vast
untapped market.
The Western world is finally waking up to the fact that we’re not
just a bunch of tree-climbing, monkey-chasing, goat-herding imbeciles as
previously thought. We have as much raw talent as they do, hence his
visit.
Zuckerberg wants to get the whole world on to social media. To do
this he is interested in sponsoring the next generation of developers
and start-ups. Andela recently received funding to the tune of $24
million from the Zuckerberg foundation. To get everyone online poorer
nations need a reliable internet service. His organisation,
Internet.org, intends to get 4.5 billion unconnected people, worldwide,
as soon as possible. To achieve this he has funded research into
solar-powered high-altitude mobile relay platforms and a new breed of
satellites. Unfortunately his flagship satellite, Amos-6, was destroyed
in the Space-X rocket explosion a couple of days ago when he was in
Nigeria ( – abi you naija people don curse am?)
Kenya, Zuckerbergs next port of call, is a world leader in mobile
payments and he was keen to learn all about it. Just like in Nigeria
Kenya has its own silicon valley called iHub and many of the developers
and start-ups are working on apps geared towards the local populace.
While we have a government and private investors who are blind to the
advances being made by our tech savvy youths (- until they hack their
bank accounts!) others are watching carefully and ready to invest in
them. As Zuckerberg himself admits that Africa will build the future.
This is the third foreign billionaire to visit Nigeria in recent
times: one,Gates, came to donate cash towards our ailing and failing
health service, another, Bono of U2, came to highlight the plight of
people living in deplorable IDP camps and now Zuckerberg
Isn’t it time our own home-grown ‘billionaires’ follow suit, or haven’t they been shamed enough?
Naijagist.com
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