In November 2019, during Twitter’s visit to Nigeria and other African countries, led by Jack Dorsey, Twitter and Square CEO, Dorsey revealed his plan to spend six months in an African country in 2020.
The latest development, however, is that he has decided to bar this intention from his plans. Alternatively, the entrepreneur would continue to pursue opportunities on the continent without having to stay. One of the reasons for this decision turned out to be what is responsible for the recent multiple cancellations of major global events.
Suggested read: Coronavirus: Global tech firms adopt remote work; why Nigeria may follow
The Twitter boss revealed in a tweet that this was necessary because of COVID-19 ‘and everything else going on.’
https://twitter.com/TwitterIR/status/1235623474967633920
And ‘everything else’ could mean the recent pressure generated when major investor, Elliot Management reportedly pushed for his replacement.
This is suspected to have resulted from claims that running two tech startups and his plans to stay in Africa for half of the year are distractions that have and could further disturb him from giving his all to the profitable running of Twitter.
Dorsey, however, apologised through a tweet for not making his aim for the short stay in Africa clear enough.
https://twitter.com/TwitterIR/status/1235623473260531712
According to him, Africa has high prospects in terms of population and tech innovations. He envisaged his stay to be a way to be close to the young talented minds on the continent and also learn ways to serve them better.
But as the case is, it appears this is not happening any more.
Notwithstanding, there are other concerns about the drooping value of Twitter’s shares compared to what it was when Jack Dorsey returned as CEO in 2015.
But in his opinion, what matters most is relevance, which may not be currently visible. But he claims changes are happening.
https://twitter.com/TwitterIR/status/1235618087036014592
As the case is, his options appear to be slim, of which he would not want to take chances. While he halts his Africa plans, speculations have it that he could probably reevaluate his position as Square’s CEO while he figures out how to retain his position in Twitter.
