Facebook has hosted a round table with small and
medium sized enterprises from Ghana and Nigeria on Tuesday as part of its
effort to support entrepreneurship in West Africa.
More than 50 million small businesses around the
world actively use Facebook Pages because they’re free, easy to use, and they
work well on mobile.
More than 2.5 million SMEs worldwide actively
invest their hard-earned dollars with Facebook every month, a number that’s
doubled in the past two years.
A growing number of them are in Africa – 54% of
people on Facebook in Nigeria are connected to a small or medium business.
But for Facebook, this is only the start of
Facebook’s potential to help small and medium sized enterprises in West Africa
to thrive.
Said Nunu Ntshingila, Head of Africa for Facebook:
“Africa is home to some of the worlds most vibrant and exciting small businesses,
and these enterprises are the backbone of the economy.
These smaller businesses drive economic growth and
create jobs that lift people to prosperity.
The number one reason they succeed or fail is
their ability to attract customers.
As more and more people turn to smartphones and
the web to discover and connect with businesses, Facebook is the best platform
for African SMEs to promote their brands.”
Nicola Mendelsohn, EMEA vice-president at Facebook
Mendelsohn, said, “Technology is driving real progress.
When I visit Africa, this comes to life in every
conversation and with every story I hear about entrepreneurs creating jobs and
solving problems with technology’s help.
We’re invigorated by how Ghanaian and Nigerian
SMEs are using Facebook to grow brand awareness and boost engagement with their
customers.
We look forward to doing more to support
entrepreneurs as they build their businesses.”
West African businesses are advertising on
Facebook because it drives business objectives and sales.
It’s measurable, affordable, mobile and easy to
do.
If an SME has a Facebook Page, it is a mobile
marketer, able to post once and reach clients on desktop, mobile, any device,
anywhere in the world.
Most small businesses can easily get going for a
few dollars a month with lightweight solutions that they do with one click from
their page – for example, boosted posts, promoted page likes and promoted
links.
In 2015, Facebook held 225 events across 19
countries, reaching over 200,000 small business owners with training on how to
use its platform effectively to drive sales and marketing goals.
Africa will be a focus region for such events for
the rest of this year.
Source: Facebook
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