Establishing Twitter’s Presence In Africa, Why We Selected Ghana – CEO

Recently, Twitter announced that it is now actively building a team in Ghana. Twitter CEO, Jack Dorsey disclosed this via a tweet, announced that the company would be setting up a presence in Africa. “Twitter is now present on the continent. Thank you, Ghana and Nana Akufo-Addo,” he said.

In the statement issued by Twitter:

“Twitter’s mission is to serve the public conversation, and it’s essential, for the world and for Twitter, to increase the number of people who feel comfortable participating in it. To do this, we need to make it easier for everyone to join in and provide more relevant experiences for people across the world.”

“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.”

Jack Dorsey, CEO and co-founder of Twitter and founder and CEO of Square, speaks at the Consensus 2018 blockchain technology conference in New York City, New York, U.S., May 16, 2018. REUTERS/Mike Segar – RC19B2A74DF0

“We are looking for specialists to join several teams including product, design, engineering, marketing and communications.”

Twitter indicated several roles from product and engineering to design, marketing, and communications for job openings in the company. However, individuals will fill these roles remotely as Twitter makes plans to establish an office in the country later.

“Full details on current job openings can be found on the Twitter Careers site. Aligned with our existing WFH policies, we look forward to welcoming and onboarding our new team members remotely so that we can make an immediate impact while we explore the opportunity to open an office in Ghana in the future.”

On the Choice of Ghana as its Base of operation in Africa, Twitter stated that;

According to Twitter, the decision to kick off its African expansion with Ghana stems from the country’s dealings with AfCFTA and its openness towards the internet.

“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. We have already laid foundations through partnerships with Amref Health Africa in Kenya, Afrochella in Ghana, Mentally Aware Nigeria Initiative (MANI) in Nigeria, and The HackLab Foundation in Ghana.”

“As part of our long-term commitment to the region, we’ll continue to explore compelling ways we can use the positive power of Twitter to strengthen our communities through employee engagement, platform activation, and corporate giving.”

“We still have much to learn but we are excited to listen, learn, and engage. Public conversation is essential to solving problems, building shared ideas, and pushing us all forward together. We can’t wait for the next step on that journey.”

The World Bank placed Ghana 13 places over Nigeria in its 2020 international ease of doing business rankings. Nigeria ranks 131st behind Ghana, the 118th in the world. These ratings come at a time when Ghana lost 4 points from its ranking in the previous year 2019 and when Nigeria just gained 15 places from 146th in 2019 to its current 131st worldwide.

The ease of doing business report is released by the World Bank each year. The ratings inform potential foreign investors of the costs they may encounter when setting up their businesses in a country and the likely risks that entrepreneurs and employees alike may face in the course of their business in various countries. All things being equal, investors choose destinations that present greater ease of doing business over those that present greater costs and risks.

True to the ranking, Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) contributions to Ghana’s economy is higher in proportion than that in Nigeria, data from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) revealed. With regards to FDI contributions to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Ghana trailed behind Nigeria for 6 years (2000-2005) before it took over, and has since led Nigeria for 14 years (2006-2019), Dataphyte’s analysis shows.