With about 80
million users on his popular social media creation - Facebook, Mark
Zuckerberg is arguably one of the most influential leaders in the world.
And for Nigeria, a country with a double-size population of
Zuckerberg’s followers, the test of the American wiz kid’s influence
could not have better unfolded than it did few days ago.
Without much fanfare,
Zuckerberg paid a business visit to Nigeria on August 30, 2016 but in
less than two hours, his arrival had started grabbing all headlines it
could both on social and traditional media and by the time he would be
departing Nigerian on September 1, the buzz generated has become so
difficult to ignore, to the extent that he would make a detour from his
Nairobi’s visit to meet with Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari at the
nation’s capital, Abuja.
During his visit-learn-interact
stopovers, Zuckerberg was at the at the Co-Creation Hub (CcHub),
otherwise known as Silicon Valley of Nigeria in Yaba, Lagos, where he
met with kids at a summer coding camp and entrepreneurs who had come to
the centre to build and launch their apps.
The 32-year old billionaire also
had a stop-by at a Facebook Express WiFi stand owned by Rosemary Njoku
in Yaba. The Express WiFi lets entrepreneurs had a set up an internet
hot spot to communities to access apps and services built by local
developers.
And on August 31, Zuckerberg
hosted developer’s workshop that was telecasted in Eko Hotel, Lagos
where he revealed among other things that more than 60 million
businesses were already using Facebook to reach their customers.
Terms such as “supportive” and
“inspirational” that Zuckerberg referenced in his speech are what some
young Nigerians are picking to describe how the young billionaire’s
visit to Nigeria has influenced their lives.
“Watching Mark speaks at the
developers’ summit in Eko Hotel today, I can say I picked a number of
things from him and that include the fact that, don’t stop learning,
don’t be afraid to fail, identify what works for you and maximize
whatever you succeed in identifying,” Tope Longe, a young Nigerian who
is into content marketing, said.
Indeed, Zuckerberg, who was 20
years at the time was said to have left Harvard to work on Facebook as a
networking site that allowed people to create their own profiles,
upload photos, share and interact with one another.
“His life history is that of an
individual who look inward, discover himself and pursue a dream that
will impact positively on our society,” Oladapo Awobokun, another young
Nigerian who was at CcHUB when
Zuckerberg visited said. “And if you ask me, I can say his visit will
engineer many more youth to also go all out and pursue their dreams.”
Awobokun who described himself
as an ICT enthusiast said the impact of Zuckerberg’s will in fact be
felt more in ICT, a sector he has come to redefine.
Such optimism radiates among
business owners too. “We were excited and honoured to welcome Mark
Zuckerberg to Lagos,” Seni Sulyman, Director of Andela Lagos, said. “His
visit reinforces not only his support of Andela’s mission, but his
belief that indeed the next generation of great technology leaders will
come out of Lagos, Nigeria and cities across Africa.”
Yet Zuckerberg’s admirers also
know quite well that the visit alone would not just become
transformational magic overnight. They were quick to point out that
except young Nigerians and indeed Africans embraced opportunities the
industry offers, there may not be any sudden turnaround.
Interestingly, all the three
young Nigerians said what impressed them the most Zuckerberg was his
humility, and they perhaps have a point since he is rated as 6th in the
2016 Forbes list of richest people in the world, with his wealth put at
$44.6 billion. Not a few were caught unaware with the simplicity of the
sixth richest man in the world appearing in a t-shirt and jeans.
Source: Daily Trust
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