American microblogging and social networking service on which users post and interact with messages known as “tweets”, Twitter, has decided to set its African Headquarters in Accra.
In a post on his Twitter handle, President Akufo-Addo said “the choice of Ghana as HQ for Twitter’s Africa operations is EXCELLENT news. Government and Ghanaians welcome very much this announcement and the confidence reposed in our country.”
“As I indicated to ‘Jack’ in our virtual meeting of April 7, 2021, this is the start of a beautiful partnership between Twitter and Ghana, which is critical for the development of Ghana’s hugely important technology sector,” he said.
For him, “these are exciting times to be in, and to do business in Ghana.”
Why Ghana?
As a champion for democracy, Ghana is considered a supporter of free speech, online freedom, and the Open Internet, of which Twitter is also an advocate.
Ghana’s recent appointment to host the Secretariat of the African Continental Free Trade Area aligns with Twitter’s overarching goal to establish a presence in the region that will support its efforts to improve and tailor its services across Africa.
“Whenever we enter new markets, we work hard to ensure that we are not just investing in the talent that we hire, but also investing in local communities and the social fabric that supports them,” Twitter said.
“We have already laid foundations through partnerships with Amref Health Africa in Kenya, Afrochella in Ghana, Mentally Aware Nigeria Initiative (MANI) in Nigeria, and The HackLab Foundation in Ghana,” it also noted and that “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, and platform activation…”
By Charles Takyi-Boadu, Presidential Correspondent