Orange has officially opened the 15th Orange Digital Centre (ODC) in Kinshasa, an ecosystem entirely dedicated to the development of digital skills and innovation, in the presence of high-level Congolese political and academic authorities, Orange DRC Management, Orange Middle East and Africa Board members, and the Orange group executive committee.

Following in the footsteps of Tunisia, Senegal, Ethiopia, Mali, Cote d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Egypt, Jordan, Madagascar, Morocco, Liberia, Botswana, Guinea, and Sierra Leone, the 15th Orange Digital Centre in Africa and the Middle East is launched in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

A Look At What The Digital Center Will Offer Startups

• With a floor area of 590 square metres, it houses four Orange Group strategic programmes: a coding school (Digital Academy), a solidarity FabLab a digital manufacturing workshops, an Orange Fab start-up accelerator, and Orange Ventures Middle East and Africa, the Orange Group’s investment fund that invests in the most talented startups.

• All of these programmes are free and accessible to the public. These vary from practical digital training for youth to project leader assistance to accelerating and investing in start-ups.

• Operating as a network, the Orange Digital Centres enable nations to exchange experiences and expertise while also providing a simple and inclusive approach to improving young people’s employability, encouraging creative entrepreneurship, and promoting the local digital ecosystem.

• The Orange Digital Centre in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is already active and hosting many digital trainings and activities; to far, more than 1,700 learners have been taught. Moreover, Orange DRC will teach students for free and roll up Orange Digital Centre Clubs, which are extensions of the Orange Digital Centre within selected institutions in the regions, in collaboration with universities.

• As a result, it will complete the education system by providing as many people as possible with access to new technologies and assisting them in fully using these technologies. Kananga, Lubumbashi, and Matadi have been chosen for these deployments in the second half of 2023.

• Orange is dedicated to achieving its aim of fostering youth employability while supporting long-term prosperity and the country’s digital transformation plan. The plan is also designed to promote gender equality and inclusion by increasing access to ICT employment for women and girls.

• This initiative, through digital technology, is fully in line with the vision of the head of state, His Excellency Felix Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo, as expressed in the National Digital Plan in project 22 “creation of technology centres, cyberlabs, tele-centres, and other media libraries… for the digital economy,” and focuses on the following sustainable development goals in line with the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: Quality education (SDG 4), gender equality (SDG 5), decent employment and economic growth (SDG 8), industry, innovation, and infrastructure (SDG 9), decreased disparities (SDG 10), and partnerships for objectives (SDG 17).

Jerome Henique, CEO of Orange Middle East and Africa says, “I am very pleased to be present for the launch of our 15th Orange Digital Centre today in Kinshasa, which is part of a network of 25 Orange Digital Centres that will be deployed not only in Africa and the Middle East, but also in Europe by 2023. The objective is to democratise access to digital technology for young people with or without qualifications. We want them to be part of the digital transformation of their country by encouraging them to become digital entrepreneurs, to create local content and digital services, and thus develop the digital economy of Democratic Republic of Congo.”

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Elizabeth Tchoungui, executive director in charge of corporate social responsibility, Orange Group adds, “This great project is a key step in our societal responsibility for digital inclusion, especially for young people and women. The solidarity Fablab, a key program of the Orange Foundation, is an essential building block of this socially useful action, by allowing beneficiaries without access to digital tools to reconnect with the professional world: the beginning of a beautiful journey that, through the development of technical skills and through the complementarity of the systems deployed, goes up to the creation of businesses.”

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Ben Cheick Haidara, CEO of Orange DRC says, “Orange DRC’s commitment to digital inclusion is a reality. As a partner in digital transformation, we are taking a leading role in the socio-economic development of the country by setting up innovative ecosystems and specific mechanisms to develop entrepreneurship, including the Orange Digital Centre and the Orange Social Venture Prize (OSVP). With the Orange Digital Centres Club soon to be set up in the universities of the regions of Kananga, Lubumbashi, and Matadi, we will provide all the essential skills to give the greatest number of people access to new technologies and help them use them fully.”

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Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert. 
As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard