Orange giving African Tech a boost!
With a strong presence in Africa, Orange is doubly involved in African entrepreneurship, by offering tools and services that respond to local problems and supporting digital innovators as part of our CSR policy.
Grass-roots involvement
Orange’s commitment within the local digital ecosystem is part of a program supported by the Group strategy: Orange for Development (O4D). This is an important work and communication framework covering all issues connected with social development in the countries where Orange operates, which at the same time promotes the development of the company’s economic activity.
The O4D program is split into three parts:
- Inclusion: bringing the service to the wider world and allowing the largest number of people possible to access it. Evidently, this requires enriched connectivity, network infrastructures, geographic coverage and speed, for which Orange has made a commitment to invest €1M every year in Africa and the Middle East.
- Mobile, a hub of essential services: mobile technology enables the widespread distribution of essential services for the population (banking, agriculture, health, education, e-gov. etc.).
- Digital ecosystem (and their activities): schemes for structuring, supporting and developing digital ecosystems:
- schemes that provide access to funding (prices, crowdfunding, global funds, local funds,…)
- training and shadowing schemes (Orange Developer Program, Incubator, Co-working,…)
- tool schemes (Orange Partners API, Data 4 Development,…)
A bit of financing, a lot of support
To provide startups with the funding that they need to grow their entrepreneurial projects, Orange has set up Orange Digital Ventures, a corporate investment fund which, in addition to its global themes, is focused in particular on young African firms or innovative startups with projects for Africa.
As part of its social development policy, Orange has also made commitments through its Senegalese branch: Sonatel. The latter has bought into the investment fund, Teranga Capital, which boosts local start-ups by providing a source of liquid assets which they often lack.
Therefore, the Orange Senegalese branch has a funding solution better adapted to its needs on the ground. Finally, it is a solution that could be reproduced in other countries.
But beyond just funding, through its CSR initiatives, Orange is offering businesses and start-ups practical support relying mainly on incubators. “CSR has an initiator role to promote the creation of an incubator. It unites those involved, helps to find funding and premises, and manages the project... Once operational, the incubator becomes a true catalyst: a community is created around this structure, events are organized and a whole activity is stimulated locally. It also guides the development of the young enterprise for several months, or even years, helping it to develop in the heart of a digital ecosystem”, added Ludovic Centonze, Orange CSR Development Manager.
Some 180 facilities of this type exist in Sub-Saharan Africa, 4 of which were initiated directly by Orange. They all work within a network, multiplying partnerships that can even involve French incubators, like Bond’innov, working towards the internationalization of young enterprises.
The AfricaFrance Foundation: a tool with a difference!
Created in Benin, in 2015, the AfricaFrance Foundation aims to be an innovative facility grouping together institutional partners, associations and the private sector to encourage growth in Africa and to prepare the continent for the challenges of growth.
Very committed to this initiative based on sector clubs, Stéphane Richard, CEO of Orange, is co-president of the Foundation.
