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Here are the brilliant Nigerians working with Mark Zuckerberg at Facebook

Itโ€™s no longer news that the founder and CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg is in Lagos, Nigeria.

His first stop wasย the Co-Creation Hub, in Yaba where he watched children learning to codeย and interacted with at least 50 local startup founders and developers. More impressively,ย he trekkedย over 2km throughย the streets of Yabaย to get toย Andela, the talent accelerator he recently invested $24 million in.

Mark Zuckerberg walks the streets of Yaba

Mark Zuckerberg walks the streets of Yaba, Lagos, Nigeria


Suggested Read:ย Mark Zuckerberg inspires nearly 200 Nigerian Developers during Andela Lagos visit


Today Wednesday, he hosted a live Q&A session with selected developers and entrepreneurs, but not before he was โ€œspottedโ€ jogging on the Lekki Ikoyi bridge.

PHOTONEWS: @facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg Jogging On Ikoyi/Lekki Bridge Wednesday Morning…

Just ran 1.5m w Mark Zuckerberg! He killed me 1st mile! Pushed me to 8min. Was so beat & slowed I missed a photo! ?

But if thereโ€™s anything most exciting about Mark Zuckerbergโ€™s surprise visit, itโ€™s theย fact that he chose Nigeria as his first destination in Sub-Saharan Africa.ย This is more than enough validation for the Nigerian technology ecosystem

Without a doubt, Mark Zuckerberg is beginning to take Nigeria seriously. But that didnโ€™t happen suddenly. Youโ€™ll find proof ย in the increasing number of Nigerians on his payroll.

Chukwuemeka Afigbo

chukwuemeka-afigbo

Chukwuemeka Afigbo joined Facebook from Google, where he served until 2015 before being replaced by Aniedi Udo-Obong.

Afigbo currentlyย manages Strategic Product Partnerships for Facebook in Sub-Saharan Africa and has been instrumental in Mark Zuckerbergโ€™s Nigeria tour.

Ime Archibong

Facebook-Ime-Archibong-Fire-Side-Chat-Free-Basic

Ime Archibong is theย Director, Strategic Partnerships at Facebook, where he leads a team working to connect Facebookโ€™s products and strategies with various business partners.

Archibong and his team have worked on everything related to Facebook including the Messenger app. Prior to joining Facebook, Ime was an Advanced Technology Business Development Professional at IBM.

Nmachi Jidenma

jidenma

Nmachi Jidenma manages Payments and Commerce Partnerships for Facebook Global, right fromย the heart of San Francisco Bay Area.

With previous experiences working atย PayPal, Google and JP Morgan, she also happens to be the founder of CPAfrica.

Ebele Okobi

ebele-okobi

Ebele Okobi has headedย Public Policy for Facebook in Africa for the past 2 years. She was the formerย Global Head & Senior Legal Director, Human Rights for Yahoo!

Laurence Aderemi

laurence-aderemi

Laurence Aderemi built Moni, a person-to-person money transfer app, which won the 2013 edition of Start with e-novation.

Apparently, his competence got the attention of Mark Zuckerberg, who hired him to headย Payments and Commerce Partnerships for Facebook Global.

Morin Oluwole

morin-oluwole

Having been raisedย inย Nigeria but lived in 3 continents, Morin Oluwole is a polyglot โ€” she speaks about 5ย languages. Thisย is probably why she sealed a role as the Chief of Staff, VP Global Marketing Solutions at Facebook.

UPDATE 1: Morin Oluwole has since taken up aย new position asย theย Luxury Vertical Lead for Facebook/Instagram.

Lauryn (Hale)ย Ogbechie

Lauryn Ogbechie (L)

Lauryn Ogbechie (L)

Lauryn Ogbechie leads a Strategic Partnership team within Facebookโ€™s Global Platform Partnerships organisation in Menlo Park, CA.ย In this role she partners with mobile developers to help them build, grow and monetise their apps through the integration of Facebook platform products.

Prior to Facebook, Ogbechieย worked as a digital organiser for President Obamaโ€™s re-election campaign.

Francis Ebong

francis-ebong

Francis Ebong joined Facebook in November 2015 where he has since acted in the capacity of Director,ย Online Operations. Francis is a graduate of The George Washington University.

Teniola Adedipe

Teniola Adedipe (L). Source: Bella Naija

Teniola Adedipe (L). Source: Bella Naija

Prior to joining Facebook, Teniola Adedipeย served in two capacities within Konga, in the space of 14 months. She startedย out as the Head, Merchandise Planning in January 2014, she then went on to become Associate Director, Retail Operations.

Teniola Adedipeย is now the Program Manager, Deal Desk & Global Agency atย Facebook, New York City area.

Monica Ugwi

Monica Ugwi

Still relatively new at the company, Monica Ugwi works withย the Product Operations division of Facebook. Prior to that, she was an Engagement Manager for McKinsey & Company and an Analyst at Goldman Sachs.

A graduate of Computer Science, Ugwi also holds a Masters in Business Administration from theย Stanford University Graduate School of Business.

Ibrahim Shekoni

ibrahem

Ibrahim Sekoni is Facebookโ€™s Product Specialist at San Francisco Bay Area. His previous experience no doubt played a huge role in blending him into Facebook.

Prior to joining Facebook, he was the Mobile Product Manager at optionXpress where he managed the top-rated mobile trading App across multiple Mobile platforms. He also worked as a Business Analyst at Phoenix bits LTD overseeing various operations. He joined Facebook in April 2015.

Olaoluwa Okelola

ola2

Olaoluwa Okelola is one of the few Nigerian-bornย software engineers atย Facebook.

Having completedย his secondaryย education at the International Schoolย Ibadan, Okelola proceeded to Avi-Cenna International School and Howard University, Washington DC, to complete his secondary and university education respectively. He then joinedย Microsoft as Explorer Intern in January 2005 and left in August the same year for Google where he worked as an Engineering intern from May 2006 until August 2006.

Okelolaย joined Facebook in 2007 and has been there ever since.

UPDATE 2:ย All post-publication updates are below. The total number of Nigerians on the list is now 18


Barbara Mbanefo

barbara-mbanefo

Barbara Mbanefo is another Nigerian-born software Engineer at Facebook,ย where she develops iOS applications that help businesses connect with their customers.

Mbanefo completed her primary and secondary education in Nigeriaย before proceeding to France to obtain her Masters degree in Software Engineering. She speaks French fluently.ย Prior to joining Facebook in May 2016, Mbanefo worked as a Software Engineer and a Mobile App User Experience Designer in France, Canada and Hollywood, California

Kunbi Adeyemo

kunbi-adeyemo

Kunbi Adeyemo has served in two capacities at Facebook. Between 2013 and 2014, she wasย on the Facebookย North America Small and Medium Business Team as aย Customer Insights Analyst.

In December 2014, Adeyemoย moved up to the San Francisco Bay Area, where she has since served as Facebookโ€™sย Diversity Programs Manager โ€“ Women in Computer Science.

Isaac Nwokocha

isaac

After obtaining a First Class degree in Mechanical Engineering degree from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka in 2010, Isaac Nwokocha tried his hands out on entrepreneurship; he co-founded two startups, including real-time road traffic web app,TrafficDey.

Probably deciding he had had enough of entrepreneurship, Nwokocha proceeded to Stanford for a Masterโ€™s Degree in Management Science and Engineering. No sooner had he completed his Masters Degree than he secured a role as aย Product Data Integrity, Community Operations/Project Manager at Facebook.

Michael Awotedu

michael-awotedu

Armed with anย MBA in Finance (summa cum laude) from the University of Tampa John H. Sykes College of Business, Michael Awotedu works in Risk Program Management at Facebook where he helps to facilitate strategy, and execution for Risk Management on products like FB games, Oculus VR and Ads.

Prior to Facebook, Awotedu oversawย Risk Management for Walmartโ€™s $30 billion check cashing portfolio.

PS: I happen to know Michael Awoteduย personally, asย he hails from my alma mater โ€” Federal Government College, Odogbolu (I couldnโ€™t resist the temptation to let you in on that).

Jane Okpala

jane-okpala

Withย almost 10 years of strategic, analytical, negotiating, presentation, and management expertise, Jane Okpala is theย Product Specialist (Social Good and Goodwill), Community Operations, at Facebook.

A polyglot in her own right โ€” she speaks at least 4 languages โ€” Okpala worked previously as an Associate at McKinsey & Company where she served mainly technology and financial institution clients on a wide variety of analytical and strategic engagements

Dayo Olopade

dayo-olopade

Dayo Olopade started her career as a journalistย Washington, covering the 2008 campaign and the Obama era for publications including The Atlantic, The Guardian and The Washington Post.

Nowadays, Olopade applies her wealth of journalistic experience on the Facebook Media Partnerships Team, where sheย helps publishers take advantage of Facebook, from a business and product perspective. She maintains a painstakingly detailedpersonal website.


Do you know any other brilliant Nigerians working with Mark Zuckerberg at Facebook? Let us know in the comments section below and weโ€™ll be sure to update accordingly.

Featured Image: Chukwuemeka Afigbo and Ime Archibong flank Mark Zuckerberg to the left and right respectively. Credit:ย Co-Creation Hub.

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