Micro-Blogging platform company, Twitter, this week announced the opening of its first office on the continent. Located in Ghana, the company is hiring 11 people in the country to run the operations.
In a tweet, Twitter founder Jack Dorsey thanked Nana Akufo-Addo, the president of Ghana:
Twitter is now present on the continent. Thank you Ghana and @NAkufoAddo #TwitterGhana
On why Ghana, Twitter explained, referring to the country as a “champion of democracy”:
As a champion for democracy, Ghana is a supporter of free speech, online freedom, and the Open Internet, of which Twitter is also an advocate. Furthermore, Ghana’s recent appointment to host The Secretariat of the African Continental Free Trade Area aligns with our overarching goal to establish a presence in the region that will support our efforts to improve and tailor our service across Africa.
Whenever we enter new markets, we work hard to ensure that we are not just investing in the talent that we hire, but also investing in local communities and the social fabric that supports them.
Other large social media companies such as Tencent and Facebook already have offices on the continent and have had a bias for South Africa and East Africa and Nigeria.
Commenting on the development, Nana Akufo-Addo tweeted:
The choice of Ghana as HQ for Twitter’s Africa operations is EXCELLENT news. Gov’t and Ghanaians welcome very much this announcement and the confidence reposed in our country.
As I indicated to @Jack in our virtual meeting of 7th April 2021, this is the start of a beautiful partnership between Twitter and Ghana, which is critical for the dev’t of Ghana’s hugely important tech sector.
These are exciting times to be in, and to do business in Ghana.