Facebook kicks off Facebook Fuel for India

Facebook kicks off Facebook Fuel for India

Today happens to be a big day for Facebook as it kicked off the ‘Facebook Fuel for India' with much fanfare. This virtual event to show off developments will enable new use cases in the country that is essentially meant to detail how Facebook and its products like Instagram and WhatsApp are being used by millions of people and several entrepreneurs in the country.

The two-day event will feature key Facebook executives including
co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, Instagram Head, Adam Mosseri and WhatsApp Head Will Cathcart as well as industry speakers including Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani together on the same stage.

Speaking at the inauguration of the show, Zuckerberg  said, “Thank you everyone for joining us today. I am sorry that we can't do this together in person, but we're excited to host the first-ever Facebook Fuel event in India.

India is a very special and important country for us. Millions of people here use our products every day to stay in touch with friends and family. Whether it's a WhatsApp message or a Facebook post or photos on Instagram. And millions of small businesses across the country use WhatsApp business and Messenger to reach customers, manage orders, and grow their businesses. And in fact, we actually test some of our new features here first, before rolling them out globally.

And speaking of tests, we just announced that we are hosting India’s tour of Australia on demand on Facebook Watch. I am not exactly a sports guy myself, but I understand that that's quite a big deal here.

And what I do know is that India is home to a lot of incredibly talented people. Now we see that in the folks that we recruit in our offices, both in India and at our headquarters, back in California. But this is more than just about Facebook, because what happens in India here is important for the whole world as well.

When his turn came to speak, chairman, managing director and biggest shareholder of Reliance Industries Limited, Mukesh Ambani said, “Mark, first of all, congratulations to you and your team for organising this Facebook Fuel for India event. I am sure this event will provide a lot of fuel of ideas to fire India’s growth engine as you just described. The most powerful idea that can propel India’s growth is that young people can create great enterprises and new businesses. And all the young Indian people see an inspiring young icon in Mark Zuckerberg. They are motivated when they see how in just 14 years, Facebook has become the face of a digitally connected India. I convey my best wishes to the success of your dreams for India, Indians and small Indian businesses.