Orange, a French telecommunication company has opened its second digital center in Dakar, Senegal. This follows its first digital center in Africa and the Middle East that was opened in Tunisia in April 2019. Orange operates in 19 countries across Africa and the Middle East and has a customer base of about 123 million people in the region.
The Orange Digital center project has a combination of several strategic programs such as a coding school, Solidarity FabLab – a digital production workshop for prototyping with digital equipment, Orange Fab – a startup accelerator, and Orange Digital Ventures Africa – investment fund. The programs are all free of charge, including digital training for young people, an accelerator, mentorship and investment opportunities for startups.
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The digital center in Dakar has a surface area of 2,000 m² on six floors and is the first of its kind in West Africa. Other digital centers will soon be opened in Jordan, Cameroon, Morocco, Egypt, and Cote d’Ivoire. Orange aims to deploy more digital centers in all the countries it operates in Africa and the Middle East, as well as in Europe.
“We are working in close collaboration with all stakeholders, including governments and academics to strengthen the employability of young Africans and to encourage them to run businesses to innovate in their countries,” says Alioune Ndiaye, the Chief Executive Officer of Orange Africa and the Middle East.
The digital center and its programs are part of the CSR inclusion programs of the foundation which equip young people with digital skills for employment. “For the moment, Côte d’Ivoire, Jordan, and Cameroon will follow in the next few months and by 2020, Morocco, Egypt and other countries in Africa and the Middle East will have their digital centers,” he added.
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