Facebook in partnership with Jumia Nigeria has recently hosted the first ‘Boost Your Business’ event at the Landmark Event Centre, Nigeria to provide entrepreneurs and business owners with best practices and advice from top business owners in order to enhance business growth in the country.
The event served as a rallying call for Nigerian entrepreneurs who have an invaluable role to play in growing the country’s economy. At the one-day workshop, more than 500 Nigerian entrepreneurs gathered to network, hear about marketing best practices, and most importantly, learn how to use Facebook and Jumia to grow their businesses.
Ebele Okobi, Facebook’s Head of Public Policy for Africa explained that “SMEs are the engines for job growth in the world economy, accounting for 80% of jobs worldwide. As a platform that democratises marketing, Facebook can help small businesses to reach their full potential”. He further said, “We give them a platform to advertise where customers already spend their time and make it easy for small businesses to communicate with people anytime, anywhere.”
Nunu Ntshingila, Head of Facebook Africa added, “We enjoyed sharing our ideas at last week’s workshop about how effective, easy to use, and mobile social media solutions can help Nigerian entrepreneurs accelerate the growth of their businesses”. He also said, “SMEs are the backbone of Nigeria’s economy and encouraging entrepreneurial activity is critical to its growth and development. As of May this year, more than half the people on Facebook in Nigeria were connected to an SME.”
The CEO of Jumia, Jeremy Doutte, who was also present at the event, noted that “Jumia is proud to partner with Facebook in Nigeria for the very first time. We are delighted to host an event for the booming Nigerian business community and our sellers in particular, providing them with a better understanding of how they can use Jumia and Facebook to grow their businesses exponentially”.
Facebook is no doubt the mobile solution for Nigerian businesses of all sizes, with more than 15 million monthly active mobile users, 16 million total monthly active users, and 7.1 million daily active users in Nigeria.
Nigerian start-ups and small businesses are already benefitting from the way that Facebook helps them to talk to customers in an affordable, personalised manner. Jay Osbie Clothing, a seller on Jumia for example, is using Facebook to promote its brand for fashion-forward men and bring interested customers back to his shop on Jumia.
Girly Essentials, a one-stop shop for affordable and unique women’s products, has 176,000 fans on Facebook. Its founder, Chinma Nwaozuzu said when “People ask how I’ve grown my business – I say Facebook – ads on Facebook”.
