Google has continued to implement its digital transformation investment plan in Africa. The web search giant has been picking different African countries to establish each of the initiatives tied to the transformation plan.

On Tuesday, Google announced the launch of a product development center in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital – its first in the continent. The new hub is designed to build “transformative” products and services for the African market and the world.

The center is Google’s second major research and development investment in Africa.

The burgeoning African fintech has further exposed digital opportunities in the African tech ecosystem that Google appears to be positioning itself for its digital economic boom. By 2030, Africa will have 800 million internet users and one-third of the world’s under-35 population.

In 2019, Google launched the first AI and research center in Ghana. In October last year, the tech giant announced plans to invest $1 billion in Africa over the next five years. It will focus on four key areas; enabling affordable access to the internet and building products for every kind of African user, helping businesses with their digital transformation, investing in entrepreneurs to spur next-generation technologies and supporting nonprofits working to improve lives across Africa.

Google said it will hire over 100 tech talent including software engineers, researchers and designers over the next two years to help solve difficult and technical challenges, such as improving the smartphone experience for people in Africa, or building a more reliable internet infrastructure, according to Google VP for products, Suzanne Frey.

There is growing interest in Africa from American tech giants, who, in the past five years, have been setting up digital and innovative hubs across the continent. Lagos, Johannesburg, Accra and Nairobi are all getting their investment share.

Two weeks ago, Visa announced that it had set up its first innovation center in Nairobi, to co-create payment and commerce solutions with partners. This came shortly after Microsoft launched a research and development center in Nairobi.

“Africa has been at the forefront of innovation, and we believe that we are going to continue to develop and innovate right here from the continent,” said Google’s policy lead for Sub-Saharan Africa Charles Murito.

Google said it plans to continue building partnerships, products and services to get more people connected to the internet, support small and medium-sized businesses and non-profit organizations.

“We have 300 million people on the internet in the region [Africa] today. We also know that in the course of the rest of this decade, we’re going to have another half a billion people who will experience internet for the very first time, which is why it is incredibly important that we build products and experiences that are helpful to these people that are going to be experiencing the internet just in Africa,” said Google in Africa managing director, Nitin Gajria.

Africa’s internet economy is expected to leap 56% to $180 billion in gross merchandise value by 2025, buoyed by massive digital transformation. This is as the world pushes to sustain the pandemic-spurred shift to digital life.

Elon Musk has taken a swipe at the Twitter board after his push to purchase the microblogging app was undermined by the ‘poison pill’ that the board adopted on Friday.

Musk went on to criticize the board on Twitter during the weekend for turning down his offer. He accused them of holding the company back from growth, saying they’re irresponsible for turning down his bid.

Last week, the Tesla CEO made a $43 billion takeover bid for Twitter. Musk said he invested in Twitter because he believes in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe. But now realize “the company will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form. Twitter needs to be transformed as a private company.”

Earlier, before making the bid for a hostile takeover, Musk had bought a 9.2% stake in Twitter, making him the largest shareholder. But that was quickly countered by one of Twitter’s biggest shareholders, Vanguard Holdings, who upped its shares to 10.3 percent, toppling Musk.

Musk had asked that Twitter shareholders, not only the board, be allowed to vote on his bid. He believes his offer, which is roughly $6 billion above Twitter’s current $37 billion market capitalization, is “best and final.”

Weighing in on the matter, Twitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey, joined Musk in criticizing the board. Dorsey said in a series of tweets where he responded to questions that as a public company, Twitter has always been “for sale.”

When asked why he owns close to nothing as Twitter founder, Dorsey said the board took most of his shares when he was booted out as the CEO in 2008, labeling the board as “consistently the dysfunction of the company”. He also agreed with venture capitalist Gary Tan, who said that a badly run board “can literally make a billion dollars in value disappear.”

Musk had implied that the board had no economic interest in Twitter to protect as they own little to nothing of the company’s shares. “With Jack departing, the Twitter board collectively owns almost no shares!” Musk wrote. “Objectively, their economic interests are simply not aligned with shareholders.”

Out of 12 members of the Twitter board, only Dorsey owns more than 1% at 2.253%, and he will be leaving the board next month.

The unexpected criticism from Dorsey is not clearly going to pave the way for Musk as some shareholders had criticized the bid, saying it doesn’t measure up to Twitter’s value. Musk said he will not make another offer, giving the board a seeming win as investors are unlikely to back his bid that some have already said it’s not enough.

However, there is another hurdle to Musk’s push to acquire Twitter. Investors have been skeptical that he would be able to cobble together the funds needed to buy Twitter, according to a report by New York Times. Analysts have estimated Mr. Musk would need $15 billion to $20 billion in debt to fund his efforts.

This is because Musk’s wealth is largely tied up in stock.

But there is a potential participation in the bid. The Times reported, citing sources, that private equity firm Apollo Global Management is considering participating in the bid by offering debt financing to potential buyers, including the Tesla chief executive Elon Musk.

The Times also reported on other potential buyers. At least one other private equity firm, Thoma Bravo, has expressed interest in acquiring Twitter. However, it is not clear if Musk is willing to team up with others to push his bid. What is clear is that Musk’s bid to acquire Twitter, though stagnant for now, is still possible.