For many Nigerians Yaba, in Lagos is famous for its psychiatry hospital and Yabatech. But the world is coming to know Yaba as Nigeria’s version of Silicon Valley, where the best tech brains are found.
Yaba is the location of Co-Creation Hub (CcHub), which is becoming the birthplace of many Nigeria’s most innovative technology start-ups.
CcHub opened in 2011 and at the time didn’t even have an office. Five years later they fill three floors and the roof of a building. At CcHub, people can learn how to code, developers can get help launching their first products, and find mentors and funding.
Not surprisingly, the first point of visit by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to Nigeria was to Yaba technology hub to see and experience the creativity that is brewing in this little corner of Lagos in Nigeria.
One of his first stops was at a ‘Summer of Code Camp’ at the Co-Creation Hub (CcHub) in Yaba.
“I got to talk to kids at the summer coding camp and entrepreneurs who come to CcHub to build and launch their apps. I am looking forward to meeting more people in Nigeria,” Zuckerberg said:
Also at CcHub Zuckerberg met with developers like Temi Giwa, who runs a platform called Life Bank that makes blood available when and where it is needed in Nigeria. Life Bank saves lives by mobilizing blood donations, taking inventory of all blood available in the country, and delivering blood in the right condition to where it is needed.
“This is my first trip to sub-Saharan Africa. I have been meeting with developers and entrepreneurs, and learning about the startup ecosystem in Nigeria. The energy here is amazing and I am excited to learn as much as I can,” Zuckerberg said:
Zuckerberg was also at Andela, a company which was the first to benefit from a $24 million investment from Mark Zuckerberg and Dr. Priscilla Chan’s social issues-minded fund.
Andela is a business that recruits the most talented technologists in Africa and shapes them into world-class developers through a four-year technical leadership program.
In the two years since it was founded, Andela has accepted just over 200 engineers from a pool of more than 40,000 applicants. Andela developers spend six months mastering a technical stack and contributing to open source projects before being placed with global technology companies as full-time, distributed teammates, working out of Andela headquarters in Lagos and Nairobi.
Earlier this year, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative invested in Andela after being impressed by the company’s innovative model of learning and its drive to connect the global technology ecosystem with the most talented developers in Africa.
Seni Sulyman, Director, Andela Lagos, said: “We are really excited and honored to welcome Mark Zuckerberg to Lagos. His visit reinforces not only his support of Andela’s mission, but his belief that indeed the next generation of great technology leaders will come out of Lagos, Nigeria and cities across Africa. Andela has created a platform for passionate, driven software developers and engineers to break into the global tech ecosystem, but the barriers to entry are still very high. Mark’s visit demonstrates to all Nigerian developers and entrepreneurs that they have caught the attention of the tech world, and they are capable of succeeding on a truly global level.”
Zuckerberg closed his visit with a stop by an Express WiFi stand in Lagos owned by Rosemary Njoku. Facebook’s Express WiFi lets entrepreneurs like Rosemary set up a hot spot to help their community access apps and services built by local developers.
Zuckerberg visit has definitely put Yaba on the global technology map as a potential place for tech talent. The visit is likely to open room for more visits from other technology gurus and most likely increased investment inflow into the many ideas flowing from the Yaba technology hub.
All indications are that the next generation of founders of the next generation of tech products in Africa and even globally are being born in Yaba. In this trip, Zuckerberg may have just met the man or woman that will create the platform that will replace facebook. Who knows?
