Image Source: Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook
The visit of Facebook’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg to Nigeria will have a ripple effect on tech entrepreneurs and social change makers in the African continent. Mark’s visit to Cc-Hub; a startup incubator in Lagos, and Andela; an accelerator that provides IT training, has shown his intent for Sub-Saharan Africa. His interactive session with entrepreneurs gave insight on his experience with running Facebook, which every young person pursing a dream could learn from.
Mark Zuckerberg’s visit to Lagos, a city that has been hyped as “Africa’s Silicon Valley”, is a validation of the potential of tech ventures in the continent and its global impact. At the town hall meeting with developers and entrepreneurs, he talked about starting Facebook as a platform to connect college students, how he managed teams in Facebook’s different growth stages, his transition from being an engineer to an entrepreneur, marketing Facebook to the public, and in general, how Facebook has evolved over the years.
He also talked about how Facebook is being customized to suit different markets, and the importance of building content that resonates with each user, regardless of their location. Mark Zuckerberg’s speech was insightful and below are 3 key lessons:
- Learning is a continuous process. Mark talked about learning as the game-changer for Facebook’s success. In the past 10 years of running Facebook, he has learned, failed, learned from mistakes as quickly as possible, and evolved overtime. “The best entrepreneurs I see are those who are focused on learning as much as they can everyday” Mark said. “You can’t have success without making mistakes along the way and rebounding from them” he continued.
- Be willing to change your strategy. Many businesses start out with one aim and end up with another. This is because your business idea may be creating value to a wider audience that you didn’t foresee. Facebook was initially designed for college students and overtime, has evolved to suit users of diverse backgrounds, demographics and cultures. As an entrepreneur, it is important to have an open mind and be willing to adjust your product or service to meet the needs of your customers.
- Strive to solve a problem. When starting out in business, you should ask yourself what social problem you can solve or how you can add value in your community. In Mark Zuckerberg’s speech, he talked about his investments and partnerships with non-profit organizations in spreading connectivity in the world and creating opportunities for entrepreneurs with the end goal of solving world problems. As an entrepreneur, you must look beyond quick returns and focus on how to solve a problem. When social problems are solved, opportunities emerge, and success is only a means to an end.
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