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Friend Me: Mark Zuckerberg Makes First-Ever Visit To Sub-Saharan Africa

Friend Me: Mark Zuckerberg Makes First-Ever Visit To Sub-Saharan Africa

Passersby applauded Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg Tuesday as he walked down a street in Lagos, Nigeria, on his first-ever sub-Saharan Africa visit, CNN reported.

Zuckerberg said he wants to see how Facebook works in Nigeria and understand how to improve the social media platform for Nigerians. He also wants to learn how Facebook can improve on technologies in Africa, according to Naij.com.

The world’s seventh wealthiest man plans to attend the “Facebook for Developers Workshop” Wednesday in Lagos for Nigerian engineers, product managers and partners.

More people use Facebook in Nigeria than anywhere else on the continent, Quartz reported. Of the estimated 16 million active users each month, 44 percent access Facebook every day. Nigeria has a population of  187 million people.

Zuckerberg broke the news about his Africa visit on his own verified Facebook page, Daily Trust reported.

“Next stop: Lagos! This is my first trip to sub-Saharan Africa. I’ll be meeting with developers and entrepreneurs, and learning about the startup ecosystem in Nigeria. The energy here is amazing and I’m excited to learn as much as I can,” Zuckerberg posted. “Our first stop is the Co-creation Hub Nigeria (CCHUB) in Yaba.”

Before heading to Lagos, Zuckerberg and his wife, Chan, met with the Pope Francis at the Vatican. They discussed how to use communication technologies to alleviate poverty, encourage “encounter,” and send a message of hope, especially to those most in need, a Vatican spokesman said.

Zuckerberg’s Free Basics app, aka Internet.org, provides free Internet access to mobile phone users in more than 20 African countries including Zambia, Tanzania and Kenya. It recently launched in Nigeria.

Free Basics allows cellphone users access to certain types of information such as health care and employment, CNN reported.

Despite being free, it’s controversial. India blocked the service in February, saying mobile service providers have to charge the same price for all content.

Critics say the program violates net neutrality, which stipulates that all Internet content and users should be treated equally. Giving away some free content isn’t fair or right, critics say.

Zuckerberg has promised to bring disadvantaged communities online, including providing refugee camps with Internet access, New York Times reported.

He met with local business leaders and developers in an effort to understand how Facebook could “better support tech development and entrepreneurship across Africa,” the company said in a statement.

In Yaba, the Silicon Valley of Nigeria, he toured a coding camp for kids and met with about 50 local startup founders and developers at CCHub.

“There’s so much energy and so much potential here. I just want to walk around and meet folks,” Zuckerberg told CNN.

 

Zuckerberg’s growing involvement in Africa

 

In June, Zuckerberg’s foundation — the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative — made a multi-million dollar investment in Andela, a 2-year-old startup that trains African software developers and gives them full-time jobs at international companies. Andela has headquarters in Lagos and Nairobi, Kenya. Zuckerberg visited the Lagos office, CNN reported.

An increasing number of users are turning to social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter for their news. Facebook has no ambitions to become a content provider or a media company, Zuckerberg said Monday in Italy, according to Reuters. It will remain a tech platform, he said.