Opera Software Set to Open Offices in Kenya and Nigeria with a New Strategy in Mind

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Opera Mini
Courtesy Opera Software

Opera Software, the company behind the much-loved Opera Mini browser, is working towards opening offices in Kenya and Nigeria. The company already has offices in South Africa, from where it has headed its operations but in an effort to localize itself with the region, it is spreading its wings.

The Company is investing $100 Million to facilitate this expansion. The browser (Opera Mini) recently reached 100 Million users in Africa and you can see why the company would be interested in making such a big investment (one dollar for each user?).

In the past few days, you may have seen Opera Mini adverts on TV and social media, the company says that it plans to strengthen its product, grow its ecosystem of partners and bring more users aboard.

In an interview with TechCrunch, Jan Standal, head of global marketing and communications at Opera Software, said the are definitely interested in more markets and “There’s nothing preventing us from initiating an extension at any time.”

Opera Mini has a market share of between 40 to 60 percent and with such a user base, the company wants to make a major push into content.

The new strategy

“We’re stepping up, the purpose of the browser is evolving,” said Standal. “Particularly around news publishing, the browser is one of the main gateways to consumption. If you want to reach people you have to work with web browsers… and we’re changing our role from being a browser to content aggregator.”

TechCrunch also states that Opera has its eyes set on startups that revolve around payments. However, no information is provided about Opera’s plans besides this statement from Standal, “this is the direction we’re interested in but we don’t have any announcements at this point.”

Opera Software plans to hire a total of 100 people across the three countries (South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria) as it widens its content reach in the continent.

We have an ongoing discusion on Opera Mini Browser and how useful it is, feel free to join in.

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