Orange opens Digital Centers in Côte d’Ivoire and Cameroon

Orange has launched two new Digital Centers, one in Côte d'Ivoire and another in Cameroon, as it pushes forward with ambitions to deploy one in every country it operates in.

This brings the total up to eight Orange Digital Centers opened in the region – with the others in Tunisia, Senegal, Ethiopia, Jordan, Morocco and Mali.

Orange said on Friday that more centers will be opened in other countries by the end of 2021 and during 2022.

"The main objective is to democratize access to digital technology for young people - with or without qualifications – giving them access to the latest technological trends to improve their employability and prepare them for the jobs of tomorrow," said Alioune Ndiaye, CEO of Orange Africa and the Middle East, at the launch in Cameroon.

The Orange Digital Centers aim to bring together four of the telco's programs in the same location to encourage the development of a real digital ecosystem in Africa, making it more accessible to young people and women in particular.

The program includes: a coding school; a Solidarity FabLab digital manufacturing workshop supported by the Orange Foundation; startup accelerator Orange Fab; and Orange Ventures Africa, the Orange Group's investment fund.

"To promote digital technology which drives inclusion and is accessible to as many people as possible, we aim to deploy an Orange Digital Center in every country where we operate by 2025. This objective reflects our determination to take action to make digital technology a positive innovation," added Orange Group CEO and chairman Stéphane Richard.

The programs are free and open to anyone and range from training young people in digital technology to supporting project leaders, including the acceleration of startups and investment in them.

Orange also works with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to offer a free 12-week, full-time certified training program on cloud computing for people looking for a job in order to launch their career in cloud technologies.

Orange operates in 18 countries in Africa and the Middle East and has over 130 million customers in the region.

The Africa and Middle East region remains a major growth driver for the France-based group. In the first six months of 2021, revenue increased by 10.7% to just over €3 billion (US$3.5 billion) for the region.

*Top image is of Alioune Ndiaye, CEO of Orange Africa and the Middle East (Source: Orange).

— Paula Gilbert, Editor, Connecting Africa