Global Courant
Download logo
Jérôme Hénique, CEO of Orange Middle East and Africa (www.Orange.com), and Isadora Bigourdan, CEO of Digital Africa, signed a partnership agreement at the Vivatech event to promote and strengthen the growth of African startups by leveraging of the expertise and resources of the Orange Digital Centers and Digital Africa.
As part of this partnership, Orange and Digital Africa will work together to identify and select promising tech startups on the African continent. Selected startups will have access to a range of resources including mentoring programs, technical support, funding and networking opportunities through the Orange Digital Center and the Digital Africa community.
The Orange Digital Centers (ODC) are ecosystems in 17 countries in Africa and the Middle East and 8 countries in Europe that support, train and mentor young people and people with innovative ideas to increase their employability and prepare them for the jobs of the future (AI, cybersecurity, etc.) or encourage them to become digital entrepreneurs.
The Orange Digital Centers bring together in one place a range of free programs accessible to all, from digital training for young people to startup acceleration, as well as support and investments for project leaders.
Intensify its activities to develop digital entrepreneurship in the priority areas of each country: environment, e-agri, e-health, e-commerce… The Orange Digital Centers today enter a new phase, ODC 2.0, with a special focus on women and the digitally excluded.
Digital Africa’s mission is to strengthen the capacity of African entrepreneurs to design and deploy digital innovations at scale for the real economy. Digital Africa acts as a catalyst, bringing together a range of partners of all nationalities – startups, researchers, incubators, institutional investors, venture capitalists, cluster technologies – all committed to African digital entrepreneurs, chief among them being Proparco, as the sole shareholder.
Digital Africa’s operational approach is based on a clear diagnosis of entrepreneurs’ needs, directly from the field, to develop a series of programs around three main priorities:
Strengthening the skills and tools needed to launch a start-up, through access to trained local talent and data. Facilitating access to seed capital by implementing flexible funding programs, such as creating investor communities. Supporting innovation policies “made in Africa” which is beneficial to innovative digital entrepreneurs in Africa, and supporting the production of knowledge on digital issues in Africa.
Leveraging the extensive network of Orange Digital Centers and Digital Africa, startups will be connected with potential investors, partners and customers, enabling them to develop their business and accelerate their growth.
Through this partnership, Orange and Digital Africa will continue to contribute to the development of a thriving startup ecosystem in Africa. By providing young entrepreneurs with the tools, knowledge and support they need, this partnership aims to enable them to turn their innovative ideas into successful businesses. It is part of their shared commitment to foster digital innovation “made in Africa” and promote socio-economic development on the continent.
During the signing ceremony, Orange and Digital Africa representatives expressed their enthusiasm and commitment to the success of this partnership. They emphasized the importance of nurturing local talent, promoting digital inclusion and unlocking the huge potential of African startups.
“Digital talent is key to the transformation of the African continent. This partnership with the Orange Digital Centers aligns with our strategy to identify promising entrepreneurs locally and help them access support, funding and lobbying tools through an international network of allies,” said Isadora Bigourdan, CEO of Digital Africa.
Jérôme Hénique, CEO of Orange Middle East and Africa, added: “We are very excited to launch this partnership with Digital Africa as it adds an essential part to our existing Orange Digital Centers network, facilitating access to flexible financing solutions facilitates that are specially designed to meet the needs of business start-ups. This partnership represents real added value and will help drive the growth of the African startup ecosystem.”
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Orange Middle East and Africa.
Press contacts:
Orange Middle East and Africa
Anita Oyono
(email protected)
+33 6 75 02 03 79
Khadija Komara
(email protected)
+33 6 76 45 96 18
Orange
Tom Wright
(email protected)
+33 6 78 91 35 11
Digital Africa
Aurora Beuke
(email protected)
+33 6 66 00 19 24
About Orange:
Orange is one of the world’s leading telecommunications companies with a turnover of €43.5 billion in 2022 and 136,000 employees worldwide as of March 31, 2023, including 74,000 employees in France. As of March 31, 2023, the Group has a total customer base of 288 million customers worldwide, including 243 million mobile customers and 24 million fixed broadband customers. The Group is present in 26 countries. Orange is also a leading provider of global IT and telecommunications services to multinational companies under the Orange Business brand. In February 2023, the Group presented its strategic plan “Lead the Future”, based on a new business model and guided by responsibility and efficiency. “Lead the Future” capitalizes on network excellence to strengthen Orange’s leadership in service quality.
Orange is listed on Euronext Paris (symbol ORA) and on the New York Stock Exchange (symbol ORAN).
For more information on the web and on your mobile: www.Orange.com, www.Orange-Business.com and the Orange News app or to follow us on Twitter: @orangegrouppr.
About Digital Africa:
Digital Africa’s mission is to strengthen the capacity of African entrepreneurs to design and deploy digital innovations at scale to serve the real economy. Digital Africa acts as a catalyst, bringing together a range of partners of all nationalities – startups, researchers, incubators, institutional funders, venture capitalists and cluster techies – committed to African digital entrepreneurs, with Proparco at the forefront as the sole partner. Our approach is based on a clear diagnosing the needs of entrepreneurs, directly from the field, to develop a series of programs around three main areas:
(1) Strengthening the skills of digital start-ups in the start-up phase on the continent, through team training and access to local talent trained in the start-up functions
(2) Facilitating access to financing adapted to the start-up phase by implementing flexible financing mechanisms and fostering investor communities
(3) Supporting ‘made in Africa’ innovation policies that benefit digital entrepreneurs innovating in Africa Digital Africa has also developed a media ‘resilient digital Africa’ to provide visibility for new technology leaders and doers on the continent. It also operates as a data-centric organization, with access to and use of data at the heart of its model.
Orange and all other names of Orange products or services in this material are trademarks of Orange or Orange Brand Services Limited.
This press release is issued by APO. The content is not checked by the African Business editors and none of the content has been checked or validated by our editors, proofreaders or fact-checkers. The publisher is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
