Twitter, has announced it will recruit 11 people in Ghana to be the company’s first hires on the African continent. It is also looking to open an office in the country.
Other tech companies such as Facebook have been moving into the Continent and twitter is following suite.
Twitter founder Jack Dorsey on a visit to Nigeria, Ghana, Ethiopia and South-Africa in 2019 said, “Africa will define the future.”
Some Ghanaians took to twitter to point out that it was because Ghana has the best jollof that he decided to set up the offices in Ghana.
Dorsey made his announcement of the new hires on Monday saying, ‘Twitter is now present on the continent.’
The jobs advertised in Ghana include positions for engineering, marketing and communications specialists, product design etc.
Here’s what Twitter had to say in their statement on choosing Ghana:
Why Ghana?
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.
Twitter is looking to ensure they also invest in the local communities and the social fabric that supports them. Having already partnered with several African companies and projects in the continent.
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“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.”
The new hires are set to work remotely as per the new COVID-19 restrictions to movement and contact but Twitter is looking to explore the opportunity to open an office in Ghana in the future.
The decision has also been endorsed by Ghana’s president Nana Akufo-Addo who commented that the act was a beautiful partnership between twitter and Ghana which is critical for teh development of Ghana’s hugely important tech sector.
He finished with, ‘these are important tines to be in, and to do business in Ghana.’
The news was not very well received by some Ghanaian who instead commented that Ghana did not need twitter but better health care systems, power and lighting.
One user tweeted. ‘Nana my light is off… on the light and leave Jack alone.’
While another said, ‘Who said Ghanaians need twitter office’ (see below).
Many Nigerians reacted in envy of the moves made by Ghana comparing social media usage and capacity of users between one country and the other while accusing Twitter Founder Jack of making a mistake or questing how they arrived at the decision.
Full details on current job openings can be found on the Twitter Careers site.
Source: Twitter, Jack Dorsey (Twitter Founder)