Orange Côte d’Ivoire - Afrikan Heroes

Orange, Organises Grand Finale for the pan-African “Orange Esport Experience” Championship

January 27, 2023

Since 2016, the Orange Group (www.Orange.com) has supported the development of Esport by organizing national and international competitions aimed at bringing out young “gaming” talent in the region. Officially created in 2018, the fourth edition of the “Orange Esport Experience” competition is being held in Côte d’Ivoire.

For this new edition, fourteen African countries are taking part in this regional grand final: Benin, Cameroon, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Ghana, Guinea, Madagascar, Mali, Morocco, Democratic Republic of Congo, Senegal, Central African Republic, and Sierra Leone. For two days, the champions of these countries will compete on some of the most popular games in the world, such as Street Fighter V, FIFA 2023, eFootball 2023 (formerly PES) and during a demonstration match on League Of Legends.

Mamadou Bamba, Orange Côte d’Ivoire Managing Director

Today, gaming is a professional discipline contributing to the creation of many jobs, namely in the fields of cybersecurity, AI, and Open Innovation. We estimate that Esport represents a market of over a billion dollars worldwide.

Brelotte Ba, East Deputy Director of Orange Africa and Middle East, emphasizes: “With a mainly young population and the spread of Superfast Broadband, Africa offers the ideal setting for this booming discipline.”

Mamadou Bamba, Orange Côte d’Ivoire Managing Director, says “As a player committed to digital technology, sport and culture in Africa, Orange Côte d’Ivoire is dedicated to defending innovation in all its forms. It’s therefore an honor to host the fourth edition of the Orange eSport Experience in Abidjan this year, an initiative that represents a connected Africa. If Côte d’Ivoire is now able to host one of the largest Esport competitions, it’s thanks to the efforts made by private players to offer high-quality connectivity to all the populations.”

Finally, Orange will reveal a world first at this event: “Max your identity”. The aim of this brand-new experience is to promote the cultures of the continent in video games. Of the many video games that exist, none offer costumes that represent Africa or the Middle East. The aim is to enable players to represent themselves through costumes from the regions they come from, combining tradition and modernity and designed in collaboration with three young designers from different countries in the region. Yasmine El Tazi for the MENA region, Ibrahim Fernandez for the SSA region, and finally Marie-Laure Jaomatana for Madagascar. In this way, players from around the world can now wear these traditional costumes in the games with pride.

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 Unveils the First Space to Test and Discover 5G in Côte d’Ivoire

September 21, 2022

Mr. Mamadou Bamba, CEO of Orange Côte d’Ivoire

Orange Côte d’Ivoire has opened its Orange 5G Lab, devoted to digital professionals, start-ups and businesses. This event took place on Tuesday, September 20 at the Deux Plateaux Smart Store (Cocody, Abidjan). It was attended by Mr. Amadou Coulibaly, Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Government Spokesperson, Ms. Christel Heydemann, CEO of the Orange Group, Mr. Jérôme Hénique, CEO of Orange Middle East and Africa, and Mr. Mamadou Bamba, CEO of Orange Côte d’Ivoire.

The 5G network roll-out across Côte d’Ivoire is scheduled for 2023, so Orange Côte d’Ivoire is thinking ahead by providing local businesses with a new collaborative space that is fully equipped and dedicated to practical applications. Orange 5G Lab Abidjan offers services and support to economic players devised with expert partners such as Huawei, Nokia or ZTE. The free and customized Orange 5G Lab system is built around two concepts :

Allowing economic players to discover new possibilities enabled by 5G, and the way it could positively impact their activities.

With our 5G experts, supporting innovative businesses keen to experiment with 5G’s potential for their product or service.

This site will host a 5G demo space for different business sectors, conferences, training, co-working sessions, co-innovation and practical 5G application sessions.

“We recognize that 5G is a new opportunity for businesses eager to diversify, optimize or revitalize their activity. To support them, it is crucial that this space offers ready-to-use tools and allows the results of these experiments to be assessed in a practical fashion. This initiative reflects our historic commitment to digital inclusion. We aim to foster innovation and help create value within the local ecosystem,” confirms Mamadou Bamba, CEO of Orange Côte d’Ivoire.

Jérôme Hénique, CEO of Orange Middle East and Africa (OMEA) explains: “Like the Orange Digital Center opened last year, the Orange 5G Lab will allow faster adoption of this technology by local businesses. They will not only be able to benefit from the expertise and tools available here, in Abidjan, but they will also have access to feedback from more than 1,500 businesses and local authorities that have had access to an Orange 5G Lab worldwide – including 127 that have already been able to set up testing based around their own practical examples.”

For Christel Heydemann, CEO of the Orange Group: “As a leader in the telecommunications sector and a key player in technology innovation, the Orange Group welcomes this new Orange 5G Lab in West Africa. It confirms our local influence and commitment to encouraging digital uses requiring high-speed internet, notably for start-ups and businesses. Orange has already opened 15 Orange 5G Labs, including 2 in Africa, and it will continue to drive this initiative throughout the Group’s footprint.”

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 to Facilitate Smartphone Financing in Cote d’Ivoire

March 7, 2022

Raoul Yobouet, CMO of Orange Côte d’Ivoire

One of the leading telecom operators in Cote d’Ivoire Orange, and Yabx Netherlands, a fintech venture offering credit products across multiple countries in Africa, today announced their collaboration with Cofina Cote d’Ivoire, a leading financial institution dedicated to meso-financing, to facilitate Smartphone financing for Orange customers in the West African country.

The announcement was made during the MWC show in Barcelona, Spain.

According to Yabx, this partnership will make a significant difference in promoting digital lifestyle and expanding financial inclusion across Côte d’Ivoire.

Yabx’s device impairment technology enables Cofina to launch EMI plans, where Yabx manages the complete customer journey through digital channels, which includes selection, acquisition, disbursals, collections, etc.

“To experience high quality digital services and user experience, it is imperative for customers to buy a 4G Smartphone. High one-time expenditure becomes a key challenge to increase user adoption. We are confident that through this partnership with Yabx, the high entry-cost barrier will be eliminated, which will help in driving smartphone adoption,” said Raoul Yobouet, CMO of Orange Côte d’Ivoire, commenting on the new partnership.

“The main economic and social objectives of our partnership [with Orange and Cofina) are to help the population of Côte d’Ivoire gain instant access to smartphones in an affordable and convenient manner, enhancing digital adoption through financial inclusion,” said Puneet Chopra, Chief Growth Officer, Yabx.

Elhadj Kane, Legal Director & Company Secretary at Cofina added, “This partnership helps us further advance on our vision to be the pan-African model for inclusive finance and use of technology to do responsible lending.”

Yabx is currently showcasing its fintech solutions at MWC Barcelona emphasizing its collaborative lending model where they partner with mobile network providers and financial institutes to create innovative and disruptive propositions bringing substantial new value pools for all stakeholders.

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 Côte d’Ivoire Launches $415m Investment Fund For Startups

July 5, 2021

Orange Côte d’Ivoire has launched a 350 million euro ($415m) technological investment fund to promote the growth of innovative startups in the fields of networking and information technology, digital industries, and cybersecurity.

This fund, known as Orange Venture, was announced during an information session and aims to target startups that provide solutions to the Ivorian market’s fundamental challenges as well as promote the emergence of future technological champions at the service of the transition to a more digital and responsible world. The fund’s administrators emphasize that the startups that will be backed will also benefit from the group’s resources and skills, as well as an international network, to help them expand faster.

Obtaining a business angel can be difficult for startups with a concept that is likely to fail in the future. The goal of this fund, which has been successful in driving growth in Moja Ride, the first Ivorian startup sponsored by Orange Ventures, is to assist them in maintaining this idea by pushing its operationalization.

Orange Côte d’Ivoire startups fund

Why Many African Early-Stage Startups Fail To Secure VC Funding

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