Orange, a telecommunications company and the German Development Cooperation have launched the Orange Digital Center in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
The Orange Digital Center is an ecosystem dedicated to the development of digital skills and innovation. The launch event was attended by dignitaries including the Ambassador of Germany in Côte d’Ivoire, GIZ and members of the board and Orange Group Executive Committee led by its Chairman and CEO Stéphane Richard.
The Digital Center brings together the four strategic programs of the Orange group. These include a coding school Orange Digital Academy, a FabLab Solidaire, an Orange Fab start-up accelerator and Orange Ventures Africa. All the programmes provided at the Center are free-of charge and open to all. They range from digital training for young people, 90% of which are practical, start-up acceleration, guidance for project bearers and investment.
Orange and the German Development Cooperation through GIZ are working together to fulfil their shared vision of fostering youth employability and access to ICT jobs for women and girls.
So far, eight Orange Digital Centers have already opened in Tunisia, Senegal, Ethiopia, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Jordan, Morocco, and Mali. More inaugurations will come in 2021 and 2022.
Speaking at the launch in Abidjan, Stéphane Richard, Chairman and CEO of Orange said, “Orange acts as a responsible company across its activities. This sense of responsibility is a central value that has been placed at the heart of the Group’s strategic plan, Engage 2025. To promote digital services as a vector for inclusion and to ensure they are available to the widest possible audience, we aim to open an Orange Digital Center in every country in which we are present by 2025.”
Alioune Ndiaye, Chairman and CEO of Orange Africa and the Middle East said, “I am very proud to inaugurate with GIZ the fifth Orange Digital Center in Africa today in Côte d’Ivoire, which is part of the network of 32 Orange Digital Centers, including 18 in Africa and Middle East. Our main objective is to democratize access to new technologies and in particular through technological collaborators such as the one we have just signed with AWS to improve the employability of young African people.”