From Lagos, Nigeria to Nairobi, Kenya; Mark Zuckerberg’s tour tech in Africa takes him from west coast to east coast. While in Nairobi, Facebook CEO Zuckerberg visited techies at the iHub where he got the first-hand view of the Fin Tech emerging from Kenya, a country that pioneered the mobile money revolution.
He met with mobile entrepreneurs who showed him how they are leveraging on cutting-edge technology to scale their businesses. Zuckerberg was particularly interested in finding out how Facebook can create a synergy with the small businesses, developers, and content creators in the emerging market.
Some of the local entrepreneurs Zuckerberg had the chance to interact with are:
Edna Kwinga Chief Human Resource Officer & Marie Amuti UX designer at Twiga Foods; a mobile based B2B supplier of fresh fruits and vegetables.
Eric Thimba and Porgie Gachui, the co-founders of Mookh, a digital payments.
Wandia Gichuru, CEO and Makena Mutwiri Head of Marketing of Vivo Active Wear, an online mall for women fashion. The business runs much of its marketing activities on Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, and customers pay via mobile money.
He also got a chance to exchange notes with developers at The Community Space where he got introduced to BRCK. A mobile router that is rugged and self-powered to give you Wi-Fi internet connectivity even in areas with poor infrastructure.
Zuckerberg even got down bare handed to enjoy a local delicacy; Ugali and fried Ngege. [corn ‘bread’ and tilapia].
In other news, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket exploded at Cape Canaveral. The explosion took out Facebook’s Internet.org satellite. SpaceX has confirmed no personnel was injured, but the blast competeley destroyed the rockets and its payload.
