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 5th 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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