Early last year, Facebook announced its desire to train and support over 50,000 students, small businesses and creative entrepreneurs across Nigeria in 2018.

Ms Ebele Okobi, Facebook’s Public Policy Director, Africa, said then that the training would be through a series of digital skills, as well as long-term impact programmes.

By November, they announced a new nationwide initiative in Nigeria to further cement its commitment and investment in the country, and across the continent.

The initiative, according to Facebook, would bring together developers, start-ups, and the wider tech community across Nigeria, and provide them with the resources and facilities that will help them develop the Nigeria technology ecosystem, collaborate, learn, and exchange ideas.

The NG_Hub was launched in Lagos, Nigeria, in partnership with Co-creation Hub (CcHub) and will now serve as its first flagship community hub space in Africa.

It features bespoke works of art from local artists in Nigeria and includes workspaces, meeting rooms, a games and chill out room, an event space and a well catered café.

It will also be the focal point for a number of training programmes, aimed at attracting the best talents and driving innovation in Nigeria’s tech ecosystem and equip Nigerian SMEs, tech entrepreneurs and the next generation of leaders to better understand and utilize the power of digital tools for economic growth.

facebook meets port-harcourt, nigeria, ng hub road show

Statistics show that nearly 1 in 2 small businesses on Facebook say they built their business on the platform.

62% per cent stated they have been able to use Facebook to help find employees for their business.

Over half (58 %) of small businesses on the platform say they have been able to hire more employees due to growth since joining Facebook.

And in Nigeria, more than 22 million people use Facebook every month and 87 % of SMEs say that when they hire, digital skills are more important than where an applicant went to school.

This demonstrates that the power of digital skills to aid economic growth and development has never been more important.

With the growing entrepreneurial minds in Nigeria getting more involved with the opportunities the internet provides in business. The interest in Nigeria is no shocker. Facebook has 1.37 billion daily active users on average worldwide and 7.2 million daily visitors from Nigeria alone.

So pushing their mission “To give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together” in Africa but firstly in Nigeria was surely a good option.

Facebook partnered with other hubs across the country as follows Ventures Platform in Abuja; nHub in Jos; Colab Hub in Kaduna; DI Hub in Kano; Start Innovation Hub in Uyo; Roar Hub in Enugu and Ken Saro Wiwa Hub in Port Harcourt.

Yesterday, 30th May, 2018 Facebook met Port-Harcourt at the International Student Center, University of Port-Harcourt, Rivers State for the https://www.tekxus.com/blog/2018/05/31/facebook-meets-port-harcourt/