Nokia - Afrikan Heroes

Nokia Partners UNICEF and Orange Foundation to Empower Young Moroccans

November 21, 2021

Global telephone and equipment manufacturer Nokia is in a collaboration with UNICEF and Orange Foundation to empower young people with digital, entrepreneurial and environmental skills, as well as knowledge about climate change in Morocco. This project is part of UNICEF’s UPSHIFT program of which Nokia is supporting in partnership with Orange Foundation Morocco. The programme will provide digital skills training and technology coaching; Employees of Nokia and Orange Foundation will contribute through mentoring and training to young people; The collaboration with UNICEF Finland and UNICEF Morocco extends the existing Nokia shared value relationship bringing real outcomes to another country

Nokia has announced a partnership with UNICEF and Orange Foundation to empower marginalized young people, particularly girls, in Morocco with digital, entrepreneurial and environmental skills. This project is an extension of Nokia’s existing relationship with UNICEF in countries across the world.

The UPSHIFT program will empower young people to become resilient citizens who engage more actively with their families, schools, everyday life and contribute to the economy. It aims to enable them to support and give back to their communities as well as becoming increasingly productive through employment or self-employment. The UPSHIFT social innovation and venture curriculum is featured as part of the World Bank’s Solutions for Youth Employment portfolio.

By the end of the programme, at least 1,400 young people, of which at least 60% will be girls, will have received training in transferable skills such as working with others, self-esteem, creativity and communication. They will also be supported in digital skills development and in raising their awareness of climate change challenges. At least 500 young people will benefit from the social innovation curriculum, while roughly 250 young people will be assisted in developing projects to launch youth-led ventures.

Orange Morocco, through its Foundation, will join forces to assist and train the young people enrolled in the UPSHIFT program. Its employees will also contribute in the different stages of the program in selected areas such as digital skills. The project will be run in close collaboration with the Ministry of Education (Second Chance Schools initiative) and the Ministry of Youth (Youth Houses and Women centers).

Naseem Awl, Representative Ad-Interim at UNICEF Morocco, said: “This program shows the value of different partners – both public and private –in coming together in support of young people and the development of their skills. Nokia is contributing important direct support but also engaging directly through its employees along with Orange Morocco’s with young people in sharing their time, expertise and mentorship. We, at UNICEF Morocco, see this as a positive example for sustainable programmes for young people that are rooted in national strategies for impact and strengthened with innovation and community engagement.”

Hendrik Kasteel, CEO at Orange Morocco, said: “The Orange Foundation is proud to join this program alongside UNICEF and Nokia with the objective of developing digital skills and promoting the professional integration of marginalized young Moroccans. Convinced of our experience to help them build their professional know-how, we will provide these young project leaders training in digital skills that are essential for the design of their projects and coach them to achieve their objectives with the help of Orange employees in skills sponsorship.”

Pierre Chaume, VP, North and West Africa Market Unit at Nokia, said: “We believe in the power of collaboration to drive development, and are proud to team up with Orange Foundation to support our partner UNICEF’s flagship program, UPSHIFT, in Morocco. By together focusing on youth social innovation and entrepreneurship, we will empower underprivileged youth and equip them with digital, entrepreneurial and green skills.”

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

Nokia and Lenovo Settles Battle Over Patent

April 8, 2021

Nokia, one of the world’s biggest telecoms equipment maker and Lenovo, the world’s biggest PC maker have jointly announced that they have settled their squabble over patents as the terms of the cross-license agreement remain confidential adding that Lenovo will make a net balancing payment to Nokia, the Finnish telecom equipment maker said. Both equally agreed to resolve all pending litigation across all jurisdictions, the companies said.

It could be recalled that Nokia launched its legal battle against Lenovo in 2019 over alleged infringement of 20 video-compression technology patents and had cases in the United States, Brazil and India, in addition to six cases in Germany. Lenovo on the other hand sued Nokia in a court in California.

A Munich court ruled in September that Lenovo infringed one of Nokia’s patents, and it ordered an injunction and a recall of products from retailers. The order was stayed in November by a German appeals court.

“The global accord struck will enable future collaboration between our companies for the benefit of customers worldwide,” said John Mulgrew, chief intellectual property officer of Lenovo. Nokia’s patent portfolio is composed of around 20,000 patent families, including over 3,500 patent families declared essential to the 5G technology standard.

In March, Nokia struck a deal with Samsung to license patents covering its innovations in video standards. Its Scandinavian rival, Ericsson, has also got ongoing patent disputes with Samsung and KPN NV, the largest Dutch telecommunications company.

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

How Nokia Leads Telecoms Software, Services Sector

September 21, 2020

Nokia has been ranked first in telecoms software and services according to a report published by Market Research Company Analysys Mason which focused on the telecomm software and service market in 2019. The sector which accounted for $66.9 billion was much more competitive than the network infrastructure market. Compared to the network infrastructure market where we have 3 big players, the telecom software and service market has 6 vendors that are inside the range of 4% marketshare difference, meaning any one of them can go on top in a short period of time.

Nokia was ranked again the No. 1 vendor in the telecom software and service market in 2019 with a marketshare of 7% worth around 4.5 billion dollars. The No. 2 and No. 3 also scored around 7% in marketshare, which is the best sign of how competitive this market is.

It will be interesting to see how Nokia will rank in 2020, because the company has been focusing a lot on its software business that started giving results. An analyst speculated that Nokia should drop the network business and focus on telecom software instead, because that market has a higher profit margin and is expected to have more growth in the coming years.

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