The social network has stated it looks to grow the business to better connect Africans with each other – and advertisers on a local and national level.
Initially, the office will be focused with further cementing Facebook’s place in Sub Saharan Africa:
Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa, partnering with governments, telecom operators, agencies and more to increase the importance of the app to users.
Nicola Mendelsohn, vice president of EMEA at Facebook, said:
“We are inspired by the incredible ways people and businesses in Africa use Facebook to connect.
This momentum in Africa comes on top of strong advertiser partnerships and excellent adoption of our products across all regions.
“Mobile is not a trend; it’s the fastest development in communications we’ve ever seen.
This couldn’t be more true in Africa – where so many people are mobile-only.
This new office is a significant milestone for Facebook and our teams want to partner with businesses across the continent.”
There are 120 million monthly active users of the social network in Africa, with over 80 per cent of visits made on mobile devices.