COO of Meta urges female entrepreneurs to have strong digital presence

Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer (COO) of Meta, formerly known as Facebook, has advised women to have a strong digital presence and keep learning to achieve success in entrepreneurship.

In an interview with Uche Pedro, founder of BellaNaija, an online entertainment hub, on Wednesday, Sandberg also urged women to “lean in and support each other” to achieve their business goals.

She called on females, who are into entrepreneurship, to set up Facebook and Instagram business pages to showcase their products and services.

“Here is what we advised, get yourself online. You can set up a Facebook business page and Instagram business profile. It is free and you can have a digital presence,” she said.

“Keep iterating, try different things. The great thing about what we do online is that it’s either free or very inexpensive and so we can keep that learning going. And women are great at that, we have been learning for a long time. 

“Do a post on the products you have and services you provide and then keep learning. We launched Shemeans business in Africa in 2018 and we have trained over 44 thousand female entrepreneurs across the continent. 

“And what is amazing is they have been jumping in and helping each other. Join our Shemeans business community. Women cannot achieve success alone, they need to lean in and support one another.”

In March 2008, Facebook announced Sandberg for the role of COO after her stint at Google as vice president of global online sales and operations.

She was thereafter elected to Facebook’s board of directors in 2012, becoming the first woman to serve on its board.

In the same year, she was named in the Time 100, an annual list of the most influential people in the world.

As of December 2019, Sandberg is reported to be worth over USD1.8 billion, due to her stock holdings in Facebook and other companies.