This is my commentary on Mark Zuckerberg’s visit to Nigeria. You know, the post many people waited for me to write.
I have observed Mark Zuckerberg over the years and even though his origin story is so controversial that it made an interesting movie, nobody can deny that Mark has matured and totally risen above all the scandals and controversies. Mark Zuckerberg is the real deal nowadays.
What makes Mark Zuckerberg an interesting figure is that he possesses a great sense of vision and where things should be leading. Facebook might be synonymous with social media nowadays, but in reality, Facebook is now a full stack technology company. They are making advancements in different areas of technology and they are defining what the future should look like. (I hope you know that Facebook owns Whatsapp and Instagram?)
Facebook has been able to move from been a product into becoming a platform and now they are doing the master move of them all: moving into governance. I believe that the first calling of a man is to succeed in business, after you master business, you then step up and move into governance.
That is how things work.
So, these days, Mark Zuckerberg is running around the world, meeting government officials and discussing policies that will make it easier for people to get connected to the internet. He is also inspiring people to start tech companies and build things.
It is truly a big win for Nigeria at this time that the Facebook founder stopped here first, and then interacted with both the tech industry players and other industries including players in the Nigerian Film industry aka Nollywood. It is a great morale boost and I do hope the next gen of people who will build the future have been inspired to take the charge.
Mark Zuckerberg is using his personal and corporate resources to try to effect changes in the world in other areas.
Nigeria is an important market for Facebook and Mark also invested in Andela, which has a very important operation base in Lagos. When the 6th richest man in the world is investing in your country, you should know others will follow suit.
The greatest thing about succeeding in your business is not the amount of money you make, but the way you use your new status to affect the run of things. This is the greatest lesson from the way Mark Zuckerberg’s life is unfolding.
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Watching The World
- Mark Zuckerberg came to Nigeria this week, he left and then came back
for the jollof rice andto attend Aso Villa Demo Day 2016.(I am half joking about the jollof!) - Here are 18 brilliant Nigerians working with Mark Zuckerberg at Facebook.
