Facebook, Teleperformance launch first Small Business Group Centre in Lagos

Facebook, in partnership with Teleperformance, has announced the opening of its first Small Business Group (SBG) Operations Centre in Lagos.

As a Facebook partner, Teleperformance will manage and operate the SBG Operations Centre. Teleperformance is an omnichannel customer experience management company, headquartered in Paris, and operating across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

The SBG centre will be supporting English-speaking advertisers across the Sub-Saharan Africa region through its Advocacy, Community and Education (ACE) programme.

The small business owners across the SSA region that will participate in the ACE programme will have the opportunity to attend online trainings, while those in Nigeria will have access to onsite trainings that will enable them to leverage mobile and social media to build brand awareness, increase sales and connect more meaningfully with their customers.

The ACE programme aims to build an engaged community of advertisers who are growing their businesses through social media. It will also serve as a networking opportunity for small business owners, who will be invited to join Facebook Groups online and interact with experienced community managers.

Commenting on the launch, Adaora Ikenze, Facebook's Head of Public Policy, Anglophone West Africa, said: "With over 90 million businesses globally using Facebook to find new customers, hire employees and engage with their communities, digital skills and harnessing those skills, it is now ever more important."

Through Facebook's Marketing Expert sales programs which supports businesses in 34 countries across the SSA, participating SMEs will receive digital marketing advice from local expert agents, supporting them to find new customers and grow their businesses using Facebook and Instagram.

The SMEs, who take part in the ACE programme, will also receive scheduled phone calls with marketing experts to create personalized and localised marketing plans that accelerate the growth and development of their businesses.

This announcement is very timely, considering the fact that Opera has launched its own native advertising platform, Opera Ads, and it is aggressively promoting it in Nigeria.

While Facebook is the leading social media platform in Nigeria, at 67.49%, Opera's mobile browser also has the highest market share.

Source: StatCounter Global Stats - Browser Market Share