Twitter Inc will open its first African office in Ghana, it said on Monday, as the social media company seeks to make inroads in some of the world’s fastest-growing markets.
Africa is under-tapped terrain for technology firms, with internet use per population at around 39 percent against a world average of 59 percent according to web analytics firm StatCounter, but that number grows every year thanks to expanding mobile broadband networks and affordable phones.
The social media giant joins Facebook and other tech companies moving into Africa, where founder Jack Dorsey spent a month in 2019.
“Africa will define the future,” Dorsey said at the time, after visiting Nigeria, Ghana, Ethiopia and South Africa.
The jobs advertised in Ghana include positions for engineering, marketing and communications specialists.
According to Twitter, the move is motivated by the company’s mission to serve the public conversation and to increase the number of people who feel comfortable participating in it.
“Today, in line with our growth strategy, we’re excited to announce that we are now actively building a team in Ghana. To truly serve the public conversation, we must be more immersed in the rich and vibrant communities that drive the conversations taking place every day across the African continent,” wrote Twitter on its blog Monday
Twitter said that its new team members would be working remotely under work-from-home policies while it explored “the opportunity to open an office in Ghana in the future.”
Ghana’s support for free speech and online freedoms made it the company’s choice for its first African location, Twitter said.
It added that the Secretariat of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) base in Ghanaian capital Accra had played into the decision.
Twitter’s move was welcomed in Ghana, which has emerged as a hub for African startups alongside the continent’s technology frontrunners, South Africa and Nigeria.
“This is the start of a beautiful partnership between Twitter and Ghana,” Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo tweeted on Monday, saying its presence was crucial for the development of Ghana’s tech sector.
