Wearing a t-shirt and no wristwatch, Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, touched down in Lagos on Tuesday for his first ever visit to Sub-Saharan Africa.
Citizens of his company’s largest African market were surprised to learn of the surprise visit as there was no previous announcement.
The 32-year-old immediately made new friends as he met with local businesses and developers in an effort to understand how Facebook (FB, Tech30) could “better support tech development and entrepreneurship across Africa,” the company said in a statement.
His visit included a trip to a Yaba, where he toured a coding camp for kids and met with about 50 local startup founders and developers at Co-creation Hub Nigeria (CcHUB), a local innovation centre.
At CcHub, Zuckerberg met with developers like Temi Giwa, who runs a platform called Life Bank that makes blood available when and where it is needed in Nigeria.
Life Bank saves lives by mobilising blood donations, taking inventory of all blood available in the country, and delivering blood in the right condition to where it is needed.
As Zuckerberg walked down the street, he drew loud cheers from passersby.
Zuckerberg has been increasingly involved in African initiatives this year.
In June, his foundation – the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative – made a multi-million dollar investment in Andela, a two-year-old startup that trains African software developers and gives them full-time roles at international companies.
The Facebook chief was at Andela Lagos office too.
Andela’s director Seni Sulyman said it was a thrill to welcome Zuckerberg.
“Mark’s visit demonstrates to all Nigerian developers and entrepreneurs that they’ve caught the attention of the tech world, and they are capable of succeeding on a truly global level,” Sulyman said in a written statement.
At the end of the day Zuckerberg stopped by an Express WiFi stand in Lagos owned by Rosemary Njoku.
Facebook’s Express WiFi lets entrepreneurs like Rosemary set up a hot spot to help their community access apps and services built by local developers.
