By Facebook intends to take feedback and inspiration from the developer and content creator communities back to California following his visits to Nigeria, Ghana and Senegal this week.
Chris Cox, Chief Product Officer who was in West Africa to find out how the region’s creatives, developers and entrepreneurs are using Facebook and Instagram to bring their passions to life, said: “It’s been an inspiring week meeting with some of the top artists, publishers, entrepreneurs, developers, and social media stars across the region.”
According to him, the region that creates some of the most interesting cultures in the world – from food, to fashion, to music, to art, adding that “They are at the leading edge of using mobile technology to build communities in their cities, countries, and around the region, and in solving local problems with local solutions. We left inspired, and with insights on the real challenges we have to improve our services-from internet connectivity to more regional support and tools.”
Cox started his trip on a high by seeing Femi Kuti live on stage at the New Afrika Shrine in Lagos. Chris, who is an accomplished pianist, was invited to play live on stage with Femi, an experience he will never forget.
Chris said: “It was an honour to play live with one of my musical heroes. The Shrine is one of the great institutions in music history and in the political history of the region. It was also the first time a concert has been live broadcast on Facebook from The Shrine.
“Femi’s team was inspired by how many folks around the city, the region, and the world wanted to tune in, and we were too. We were surprised by how many Nigerians told us how exciting it was to see a concert from there. We think there’s a great opportunity for Live to give the whole world a window into some of these gems of local culture.”
Whilst he was in Nigeria he spoke at Social Media Week Lagos-the region’s premier new media and social media conference-Cox highlighted Nigeria’s status as a hub for innovation and creativity because of its fast-growing mobile technology sector and its vibrant film and music industries. He focused on how the world is moving to digital video, with formats such as virtual reality, Live video broadcast and 360 video giving people new ways to tell their stories.
Chris then moved to Ghana where he visited the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) in Accra, Ghana. Meltwater is the premiere start-up-school and incubator in Ghana, bringing in some of the top aspiring tech entrepreneurs and engineers from around the continent to develop their businesses.
During his visit Chris loved meeting the team from Asoriba, already hugely successful software for church communities-which is extremely important and central in Ghana and Nigeria. He talked with the founders of Asorbia about how technology can be used to strengthen communities.
Later in Ghana he witnessed the force of Ghana’s creative talent in an event at ANO Gallery, which was co-hosted by and ANO Gallery and Bless The Mic. During the event, some of Ghana’s top talent spoke about how they have used technology to tell their stories and grow their audiences.
Top Ghanaian musician M.anifest said, “We have some really compelling stories to share in Ghana, not just with other Ghanaians but with audiences around the world” adding that the remarkable thing about Facebook is that “it gives us cutting-edge and exciting new ways to connect with people and to tell our stories ourselves and in our own way.”
Corinne Erambert of Les Atelier De Corrine said he has Facebook and Instagram to build a community of food lovers who come to my pages to see videos and photos of the new dishes I am trying out noting, “I often give people recipes within my posts so that if people like the look of the food I make, they can try it out at home.”
According to Cox, it was exciting and inspiring to see how technology is giving entrepreneurs and content creators across West Africa new opportunities to reach their audiences stressing, “I felt privileged to see how developers, content creators and entrepreneurs are using Facebook and Instagram to help solve local problems or tell local stories.”
