New Orange investment initiative to receive £50m to spearhead early-stage innovation projects in Africa

Orange commits 50 million euros to a new Africa section in its flagship programme for investment in start-ups, Orange Digital Ventures, the Group’s investment vehicle for early-stage innovation projects in Africa in areas such as new connectivities, FinTech, the Internet of Things, energy and e-health.

The objective is to target start-ups offering responses to Africa’s fundamental challenges while leveraging the operator’s assets on the continent. This support will concern all innovative start-ups, whether they are based geographically in Africa or they address African issues from another continent.

With this announcement, we are engaging a bit further alongside the African digital ecosystem, which like everywhere else and maybe even more than elsewhere carries with it a development challenge,” Pierre Louette, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Orange and Chairman of Orange Digital Ventures, commented.

The 50 million euros will be halved, one half for the direct investments made via its new Orange Digital Ventures Africa programme; the other half is devoted to indirect investments through specialised funding for Africa.
A team based in Dakar will be set up next September for the programme in order to respond to the start-ups’ need for responsiveness and simplicity.

Orange has Fabs in Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Senegal and BIG in Jordan to facilitate partnerships with the start-ups; the network of partner incubators such as CTIC in Dakar; the availability of Orange APIs on the continent; and the Orange Social Venture Prize recognising social entrepreneurs in Africa.