Orange launches two new Digital Centres in Ivory Coast and Cameroon

Orange plans to deploy an Orange Digital Centre in each of the countries where it operates by 2025.

Orange, has opened two new Digital Centres in Ivory Coast and Cameroon. This is part of the company’s Engage 2025 strategic plan to deploy an Orange Digital Centre in each of the countries where it operates by 2025.

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

The Orange Digital Centre brings together four of its programs in the same location to encourage the development of a real digital ecosystem in Africa, said a company statement.

This includes: a coding school; a Solidarity FabLab digital manufacturing workshop; a start-up accelerator, Orange Fab; and Orange Ventures Africa, the Orange Group’s investment fund.

The telco says all of the programs are free and open to everyone. They range from training young people in digital technology (90% of the training courses are hands-on training), to supporting project leaders, including the acceleration of start-ups and investment in them.

“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,” commented Alioune Ndiaye, CEO of Orange Africa and the Middle East.

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 in 18 countries via Orange Digital Centres in Africa and the Middle East.

Against the backdrop of accelerated connectivity in Africa, reaching 413 million users by the end of 2020 according to GSMA, and with a young population (one in two Africans is under 20), there are considerable digitalization challenges, says Orange.

So far, eight Orange Digital Centres have been opened in Africa. These include: Tunisia, Senegal, Ethiopia, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Jordan, Morocco, and Mali.

The company says more centres will be opened in other countries by the end of 2021 and during 2022.