Alioune Ndiaye - Afrikan Heroes

Fintech Startup Wave Puts Orange Money’s Business Model In Cote D’Ivoire Under Threat. Here’s How

October 21, 2021

Alioune Ndiaye, CEO of Orange Middle East and Africa

“Mobile money” stores abound in the dusty alleyways of Abidjan, the official capital of the West African country of Cote D’Ivoire. The colorful flags and posters that adorn their storefronts, promoting payment apps from telecom carriers like as Orange Money, MTN Money, and Moov Money, can be seen from afar. In recent months, a newcomer, Wave, has joined the ranks of telco advertising signs.

Wave is not only displaying its wares, but it is also doing the unthinkable: dividing the commission it receives on sales by three. This appears to be devastating for competitors such as Orange Money, which has been in business for thirteen years. Orange’s mobile payment business has evolved into a key component of the company’s African success.

Wave first launched presence in Senegal in the summer of 2020, then in Côte d’Ivoire this year.

On average, telecom companies in Cote D’Ivoire charge roughly 3% commission on “mobile money” transactions, with commission rates as high as 10% on small-dollar withdrawals. Wave approximately halves these rates by three by allowing totally free withdrawals and a single 1% fee on transfers.

This isn’t the first time someone has attempted to sabotage the “mobile money” market. However, the risk posed by the New York startup has become more than credible after obtaining $200 million in September from numerous firms, including Partech and Sequoia Heritage.

“Their strategy makes free what made 80% of our income, and it is unavoidably brutal,” Alioune Ndiaye, the CEO of Orange Africa, admitted in response to a question from the company’s employees. “We must act quickly and decisively. Our economic model must be altered. We don’t have an option any more. The model of charging customers for cash withdrawals is certain to fail. As a result, we’ll have to adjust our prices. In Senegal, Orange has already decided to unite with Wave, while it has recently decided to do so in Ivory Coast.

The Price War Is An Earthquake For Orange

The company’s mobile payment system, which was launched in 2008 and is based on the Kenyan M-Pesa, has become a cornerstone of the company’s African operations. Last year, Orange Money generated more than 500 million euros in revenue, accounting for roughly 10% of total revenue in the region, with a profit margin comparable to that of telecoms. In Sub-Saharan Africa, where banking rates are still low, demand for these dematerialized payment options, which are available to anyone with a smartphone, is growing. To the point where, by 2025, Orange expects to have doubled its revenue from it.

“The goal of generating 1 billion euros in revenue from mobile financial services by 2025 is unstoppable,” Stéphane Richard, the group’s CEO said. “Until now, the rise has been constant, averaging 25 to 50 percent per year. With the addition of new players like Wave, things will become more challenging, but we have resources. In Africa, we founded Orange Bank, which will serve as a hub for our mobile financial activities.”

SÉNÉGAL – TRANSFERT D'ARGENT:WAVE attaqué en justice par les agents des multi-services – PORCEPIK — *Source: Wave*

Already Yielding To Wave’s Challenge

In response to the fierce price competition, Orange in Cote d’Ivoire has set its mobile money withdrawal fee at 1% of all transactions. The decision took effect from Wednesday, October 20, 202.

Orange Money has 50 million customers, compared to approximately 130 million for the company’s mobile phone services. The management of Orange Africa is hoping that increased transaction volume will more than compensate for the rate cut.

MTN MoMo Côte d’Ivoire has recently also announced a 1 percent reduction in MoMo transfer costs.

Wave Orange Cote d’ivoire Wave Orange Cote d’ivoire

Senegal-based Fintech Startup, Wave, Becomes Africa’s Latest Unicorn After A $200m Investment

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance.
He is also an award-winning writer

What The Latest 2Africa Submarine Cable Additions Mean For Nigeria’s South East, Others

August 17, 2021

The 2Africa consortium, comprised of China Mobile International, Facebook, MTN GlobalConnect, Orange, stc, Telecom Egypt, Vodafone and WIOCC, has announced the addition of four new branches to the 2Africa submarine cable.

In a statement, the consortium said the branches will extend 2Africa’s connectivity to the Seychelles, Comoros Islands and Angola, and bring a new landing to south-east Nigeria. The new branches join the recently announced extension to the Canary Islands.

With a length of 37,000 kilometers, 2Africa will be one of the world’s largest subsea cable projects, connecting Europe (through Egypt) to the Middle East (via Saudi Arabia) and 25 landings in 16 African countries. With a design capacity of up to 180Tbps on crucial elements of the system, the system is expected to go live in 2023/4, delivering more than the total combined capacity of all subsea cables servicing Africa today.

Improved Bandwidth Means Increase In Capacity To Process Data, Vital For Explosion In Digital Activities

2Africa will provide much-needed internet capacity and dependability over most of Africa, supplementing the Middle East’s rapidly expanding capacity need and enabling the further expansion of 4G, 5G, and fixed broadband connectivity for hundreds of millions of people.

“As one of the world’s leading multi-service telecommunications operators and present in 18 countries in Africa and the Middle East, it was natural for Orange to be part of the 2Africa project. This major investment will complete our existing submarine and pan-African terrestrial infrastructures to provide access to international connectivity in a redundant fashion throughout the west coast of Africa. It will enable Orange to securely meet the demand for increased bandwidth necessary for the continued digital development of regions throughout the 2Africa system,” Alioune Ndiaye, CEO of Orange Middle East and Africa, said at the launch of the 2Africa project recently.

Undersea cables provide for rapid communication by delivering 95% of all data and voice traffic that crosses international borders. “Many people around the world believe that their emails and phone messages are being sent through satellites. They are mistaken because satellites account for less than 5%,” said Matis Matthew of the US War College. Thus, under-sea cables have a far higher capacity and are more reliable than satellites.

Under-sea cables also serve as the backbone of the global economy, transmitting nearly $10 trillion in financial transactions each day.

“Improving connectivity for Africa is a significant step which lays the groundwork for increased digitalisation across the continent,” said Vinod Kumar, CEO Vodafone Business. “2Africa will give local businesses and consumers a better online experience while more connectivity between Africa, Europe and the Middle East will help to build a wider, more inclusive digital society across the globe.”

The 2Africa cable will use ASN’s SDM1 technology, which allows for the deployment of up to 16 fiber pairs instead of the eight supported by earlier technologies, resulting in significantly higher and more cost-effective capacity. Optical switching technology will be used in the cable to allow for flexible bandwidth control. In comparison to the previous system, the cable burial depth has been raised by 50%.

South East submarine cable — *Map of 2Africa landing countries. Source: Business Wire*

Why This Matters For Nigeria’s Tech Startup Landscape

Before now, Lagos is almost synonymous with Nigeria whenever Nigeria’s tech startup ecosystem and the investments that come to it are mentioned. One of the reasons for this is partly because of the population density of the city, which is home to more than 20 million people.

But then, supporting the fast processing of data of the city’s teeming population are submarine cables. Presently, all of Nigeria’s existing five international submarine cables — including the SAT3 cable, MainOne cable, Glo1 cable, ACE cable, and WACS cable, which were landed by Natcom, MainOne, Glo 1, Dolphin Telecom, and MTN respectively and have a capacity of over 40 Tbps — have only landed in Lagos. The city holds about 15.2% of the country’s entire internet population (14,192,283 subscribers).

In the entire south east of Nigeria — made of Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo states — there are close to 15 million active internet subscribers, as at Q3 2019.

The figures are even more interesting when a combination of adjoining states, where the highest economic activities occur, is made. For instance, the south eastern state of Anambra which forms an urban conurbation with Delta, alone, has more than 5 million active internet users. The state of Delta, on its own, has more than 4 million internet subscribers. Most interesting also is when another neighbouring state such as Abia, with over 3 million internet subscribers, is added to the combination. This therefore, presents additional — often neglected — markets for tech startups looking to scale their businesses outside Lagos.

As a result, the undersea cables will boost fast and reliable processing of digital data for the present digital population in the region while also encouraging penetration into previously unreached areas.

A recent report has listed Enugu — a city in the region — as Nigeria’s fifth biggest startup city behind Lagos, Ibadan, Abuja and Port Harcourt.

Collectively, the region also have an average GDP per capita of around $1300, compared to Lagos’ $7000, or Uganda’s capital city Kampala’s estimated $2000.

“We’re excited to be collaborating with our 2Africa partners on the most comprehensive subsea cable that will serve the continent,” said Najam Ahmad, Vice President, Network Infrastructure at Facebook. “2Africa is a major element of our ongoing investment in Africa to bring more people online to a faster internet. We’ve seen first-hand the positive impact that increased connectivity has on communities, from education to healthcare. We know that economies flourish when there is widely accessible internet for businesses. 2Africa is a key pillar supporting this tremendous internet expansion as part of Africa’s surging digital economy.”

South East submarine cable South East submarine cable South East submarine cable

Nigerian Bus-hailing Startup Plentywaka Joins Innoson Vehicle To Explore Nigeria’s South East

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance.
He is also an award-winning writer

Orange Launches Season 2 of “Y’Africa”,to Showcase African Culture.

April 2, 2021

Alioune Ndiaye, CEO of Orange Africa and the Middle East

“Y’ Africa” TV show plans to assemble the best of Africa‘s talents in arts such as painters, photographers, sculptors, choreographers, stylists and musicians – African culture is packed with young talent from a wide range of disciplines. “Y’Africa”, a contraction of “Africa Ya lelo” or “Africa today” in Lingala, is a TV series which puts emerging artists in the spotlight.

Each episode presents a portrait of three artists who tell their story through their work, while acting as a guide to the cities where they live.

Developed by Orange the program aims to offer African culture, in all its forms, an opportunity to shine and to strengthen the local presence of the Orange brand in Africa.

Season 1 highlighted the diversity of African talent

Launched on February 6, season 1 of “Y’Africa” revealed the journeys of thirty-nine artists from ten different countries through thirteen episodes (each twenty-six minutes long). The documentary series was broadcast in 2020 on television channels in fifteen African countries.

The influencer [1] campaign carried out by Totem Experience, and a team of thirty-four, generated over 13 million post and story views with an exceptional level of engagement – three times the average.

The enthusiasm generated by “Y’Africa” on television and on the web led us to decline the first season in two original spin-offs this spring. Short portraits of the thirty-nine artists will be available on the Orange YouTube channel .

The thirteen television episodes will be adapted into a podcast which will be available on all the usual platforms.

The positive feedback, in the form of audience engagement on social networks and the enthusiasm of African TV channels, encouraged Orange to go again with a second season.

Season 2 of “Y’Africa” will be made up of eight new episodes (each twenty-six minutes long) presenting twenty-four artists from eight different countries: Botswana, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Morocco, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Tunisia.

The executive producer will once again be Fame Productions, and it will be directed by Dan Assayag. The concept remains the same: a dive into the journey of each artist who, through their portrait, also acts a guide to their city.

It is due to be broadcast in the same fifteen countries from fall 2021. Season 2 of “Y’Africa” will also receive a special broadcast on the Orange YouTube Channel. Additional exclusive content (long sequences, making-of, podcasts, etc.) will also be available online.

Highlighting the importance of the launch of the Season Two, Béatrice Mandine expressed her delight with the success of the first season of Y’Africa which drew a wide audience to these artist portraits and generated plenty of attention on social networks. Mandine, who is the Executive Director of Communications, Engagement and Brand at Orange Africa added that “this original concept proved its value through the quality of its content, a wide choice of artists and the emotions it inspired in viewers. Building on the very positive feedback we received, we are pressing ahead and are starting shooting for season 2.”

Read also:These Payments Companies Are Now Allowed To Carry Out International Money Transfer In Nigeria

Speaking on the development, Alioune Ndiaye, CEO of Orange Africa and the Middle East said that the ‘”first season of Y’Africawas a great success. This audiovisual program showcases the richness of cultures and the creativity of African youth. The season 2 will enable us to discover new talented artists, I am looking forward to listening their testimonies”.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry

Orange Ventures Opens Applications For Orange Ventures MEA Seed Initiative

November 20, 2020

In June 2020, the MEA Seed Challenge by Orange Ventures launched its call for applications from early stage technology start-ups in Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Senegal and Tunisia. More than 500 applications received were carefully examined by the investment teams in conjunction with the local Orange teams.

*Alioune Ndiaye, Managing Director Orange Middle East and Africa*

670,000 euros will be invested at the end of a very competitive selection process (1), subject to the lifting of the conditions precedent, in the following seven start-ups:

7Keema in Egypt: e-health platform for making appointments with nurses

Chari.ma in Morocco: marketplace for neighborhood shops of everyday consumer goods

Dabchy in Tunisia: second-hand clothing and fashion accessories marketplace.

Moja Ride in Ivory Coast: digital solution to facilitate access, reservation and payment of means of transport from a single interface.

Waspito in Cameroon: e-health application that distributes telemedicine services.

Back Office For Business (BOB) in Jordan: digitalization solution for businesses to enable them to sell online through their own virtual store and a mobile application.

SudPay in Senegal: fintech which offers a solution for payment, ticketing and collection of local taxes.

“Congratulations to the 7 winners whom I am very happy to welcome to our community, at the start of our new seed activity,” said Jérôme Berger, CEO of Orange Ventures. “Their diversity in terms of geography and sector of activity (general public, e-health, BtoB, fintech) shows an abundance of quality initiatives that are very promising for the continent”.

Orange Ventures MEA Seed Initiative

Orange Ventures wants to expand this seed investment activity and is launching Orange Ventures MEA Seed. This initiative complements the historical activity of Orange Ventures on the continent and aims to finance 100 start-ups by 2025, mainly in the countries of Africa and the Middle East where Orange is present, and this from their early stages of development, with tickets of up to 200,000 euros.

“More than elsewhere, the difficulty of access to investment constitutes for entrepreneurs a brake on development in Africa, where investments are rarer and concentrated in a few geographies, while the continent is full of opportunities and opportunities everywhere. talents. Our initiative can help provide a solution to these talents and confirms our confidence in the innovation potential of local ecosystems in countries where Orange is present, ”explains Jérôme Berger.

“This initiative, which I welcome, is part of our strategy of openness and support for innovation players wherever we operate. It is essential for ecosystems to be able to rely on large groups capable of both investing and engaging with local entrepreneurs, especially in the current context. », Adds Alioune Ndiaye, Managing Director Orange Middle East and Africa.

The Orange Ventures MEA Seed initiative is open to start-ups in the new technology sector with a rapid growth profile, at the seed stage and operating mainly in one of the 18 countries of which Orange operates in Africa and the Middle East. Geographical proximity must maximize the impact of the support offered as well as the chances of collaboration with the entities of the Orange group.

Applications are now permanently open and can be submitted on the Orange Ventures website.

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance.
He is also an award-winning writer

Orange Partners Google to launch New 4G smartphone in Africa

October 1, 2020

In a move market watchers say is aimed at upending the dominance of Chinese companies in the lower end smartphone market in Africa, Orange has partnered with Google to launch Sanza, an exclusive low budget 4G. Android smartphone. The device will retail around $30 an ultra-affordable price point intended to make it the most accessible on the market with the goal of driving digital inclusion and providing more people access to mobile internet. It will be available form October 2020 bundled with mobile data plan for voice, SMS with sales going up in most countries in the Middle East and Africa region, starting with Guinea Bissau, Côte d’Ivoire and Madagascar.

The launch builds upon efforts since the launch of Android (Go edition) in 2018 to accelerate the pace of digital adoption across the continent. The Sanza range was first launched in April 2019 in 13 countries in Africa and the Middle East, making it easier for many customers to come online for the first time and discover the benefits of connectivity.

The Sanza touch is an accessible alternative for everyone due to its price point and features including the Payjoy application, which allows customers to overcome budget issues by paying for their smartphone over several instalments. Sanza touch comes with features such as 4” screen, 8GB memory and a 1750mAh battery, offering over 4 hours of battery life while streaming videos.

Alioune Ndiaye, CEO of Orange Middle East and Africa says, “The partnership with Google to offer the Sanza touch smartphone for sale will enable us to solve this problem thanks to its affordable price and advanced functionalities. While 90% of the world’s population is now covered by mobile broadband, 3.3 billion people who live in areas covered by mobile broadband remain unconnected for reasons such as affordability, low levels of literacy and digital skills . »

Mariam Abdullahi – Director, Platform Partnerships, Android and Play – Africa for Google added: “Our mission at Google has always been to “Organise the world’s information and make it universally accessible to everyone”.

“We are excited about the endless possibilities this Sanza touch smartphone will present in learning, economic opportunities and digital accessibility. The Goal of our Android devices, including this first-of-its-kind highly affordable Android (Go edition) device, is to bring the power of computing equitably to all” She added.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry