Facebook launches first Africa Tech Hub Space

Facebook launches first Africa Tech Hub Space

Facebook has opened its flagship community Tech Hub Space in Africa, in partnership with CcHub, in Lagos Nigeria.

The move is part of Facebook’s commitment and ongoing investment to Africa. Dubbed as NG_Hub, the Tech Hub Space will offer support to tech startups and will also train 50,000 young people and SMEs in digital skills across the country.

In a week-long celebration which will bring together developers, start-ups, and the wider tech community across Lagos and Nigeria, the launch will also showcase the new multi-faceted tech hub space which aims to bring together communities to collaborate, learn, and exchange ideas.

With creativity and excellence existing across all of Nigeria, Facebook also announced partnerships with seven other tech hub spaces across the country including in Abuja (Ventures Platform), Jos (nHub), Kaduna (Colab Hub), Kano (DI Hub), Uyo (Start Innovation Hub), Enugu (Roar Hub) and Port Harcourt (Ken Saro Wiwa Hub).

The tech hub spaces will serve as centres of excellence and will feature dedicated Facebook spaces, where many of Facebook’s training sessions will take place, and a space where creatives and developers can book to help them advance their skills.

Featuring bespoke works of art from local artists in Nigeria, the NG_Hub space, which includes workspaces, meeting rooms, games and chill out room, an event space and a well catered café, will also be the focal point for a number of training programmes.

Aimed at attracting the best talent and driving innovation in Nigeria’s tech ecosystem, these are all designed to equip Nigerian SMEs, tech entrepreneurs and the next generation of leaders to better understand and utilise the power of digital tools for economic growth.

Training programmes include

The Fb Start Accelerator programme – a research and mentorship-driven programme aimed at empowering start-ups and students with technical & business support and funding to optimize their product for growth – focused on those building solutions using advanced technology, with a focus on Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning, Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR).

Digify Pro Nigeria – a two-month intensive boot camp where 20 aspiring digital professionals will learn what it takes to have a career in digital marketing. The programme is designed to fit the specific needs of industry, covering a range of topics including community management, content and e-mail marketing, brand online reputation management, UX design and more.

Boost Your Business – Made especially for micro, small and medium sized businesses owners, Boost Your Business is a one-day training that teaches digital marketing for business growth.

#SheMeansBusiness – the first to launch on the continent, #SheMeansBusiness is a one-day training workshop and networking experience for female entrepreneurs, offering a mix of business and digital marketing training for women led businesses, along with additional opportunities to network with fellow female entrepreneurs.

Ime Archibong, Facebook’s Vice President of Partnerships said: “Technology provides expansive opportunities to engage young, creative and resourceful Nigerians, especially in delivering solutions to challenges across communities here in Nigeria. Our mission is to build community and bring the world closer together, NG_Hub provides that physical space that will serve as a centre of learning and skills development in Lagos, and I’m excited about the possibilities that this will create.”

Commenting on the partnership Bosun Tijani, Founder/CEO of CcHub, added: “Our aim has always been to provide a viable platform for creatives and innovators to express their talent and create solutions to the myriad of social and economic challenges faced by countries across the continent. Partnering with Facebook on NG_Hub enables us to achieve our objectives at scale and make the desired impact in the tech ecosystem here in Lagos.”

Facebook’s first tech space in Africa as the social media company follows in the footsteps of search giant Google who in July launched an ambitious initiative to train 10 million young people in online skills over five years.

Facebook Users in Africa

Facebook has grown its African user base to 170-million, 94% of whom use mobile to access the social network.  In Nigeria alone, there are 22 million monthly Facebook users; 10 million of them log in daily to the platform, all on mobile devices, while Kenya has close to 10 million users. This maybe makes Nigeria the hottest place in Africa for startups taking over Kenya as the continents tech darling. However, we still think that Nairobi is the place to be.

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