Facebook opens its first brick-and-mortar African headquarters in Johannesburg
Facebook will open a new office in an upscale part of the city Johannesburg. Company representatives say they hope it will bring new users to the site and expand opportunities for users and businesses.
Nunu Ntshingila, the former president of Ogilvy South Africa, in charge of activities in SSA from the Ogilvy advertising agency, will become responsible of Facebook for the entire African continent.
The company has reached out to Africa in recent years by introducing a lighter version of its app for lower-end phones and by debuting “missed call ads” that allow users to click on an ad and then receive a free call from the advertiser.
Facebook also has made a play for widespread, free Internet access — a challenge in Africa, where just over a tenth of the continent’s 1 billion people are active on the network. In a bid to lure more users, Facebook has partnered with mobile phone companies to offer free airtime for phone users accessing Facebook and other selected sites. A project was recently launched in the southern African nation of Angola.
