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Facebook’s first iD8 conference brings together 400 devs, startups & businesses

It has been a good week for developers on the African continent. Following Huawei’s South African Dev Day earlier this week, Facebook also held an event in Nairobi, Kenya for developers, startups and business across the Sub-Saharan Africa region called iD8.

With it being the first event of its kind for the region, Facebook iD8 Nairobi has gone down as a success, with more than 400 attendees outlining their commitment to create a community focused on creating opportunities and fostering greater innovation.

“As part of its effort to create opportunities for innovation, community building and education throughout the continent, Facebook iD8 Nairobi created a space for developers and startups to showcase and celebrate talent from across the continent, while sharing their developer journey,” the firm noted in a press release sent to Hypertext.

Some of the highlights of the event included a keynote from Emeka Afigbo, Facebook’s global head of developer programmes. Here the firm’s plan in partnership with Andela to train and equip thousands of developers from its Developer Circles across 10 countries in Africa was unpacked, along with equipping them with technical and non-technical skills in 2020.

The firm adds that this new initiative follows Facebook’s successful three-month training programme with Andela across Nigeria and Kenya earlier this year.

“We look forward to reconnecting with the ecosystem to share the latest technology, product and program updates. Facebook iD8 is a two-way dialogue where we also have a chance to hear from our developer and startup community’ about their experiences and roadblocks as well as provide an opportunity for members of our community to connect with others who share their challenges and aspirations,” Afigbo enthused.

Speaking about the value of the Developer Circles, developer lead in Eldorat, Fatma Ali noted that, “This opportunity has enabled me to connect and get mentorship to build my career while equipping me with leadership skills to work with the developer community. Through my Facebook Developer Circle I have gotten exposure and recognition in the Developer ecosystem. The experience has been enlightening and I am confident that I will have a successful career in technology.”

With Facebook being in the deadlines for many of the wrong reasons this year, this latest event helps to show that the firm is still focused on addressing several of the key technological and skills needs facing the continent.

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