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The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), Orange and the Ministry of Innovation and Technology, the Ethiopian Investment Commission and the Industrial Parks Development Corporation have launched the Addis Ababa Orange Digital Centre, an ecosystem that is entirely dedicated to digital skills and innovation. The launch took place in the presence of HE Dr Abraham Belay, Minister of Innovation and Technology, HE Lelise Neme, Commissioner of the Ethiopian Investment Commission, HE Sandokan Debebe, CEO, Industrial Parks Development Corporation, Alioune Ndiaye, CEO, Orange Middle East and Africa (MEA), Peter Palesch, GIZ Country Director, HE Stephan Auer, German Ambassador to Ethiopia and HE Rémi Maréchaux, French Ambassador to Ethiopia.
Following launches in Tunisia and Senegal, Ethiopia will be home to the third Orange Digital Centre in MEA. Occupying a space of 500 square metres, it is the first centre in East Africa that will operate as a strategic network, allowing experiences and expertise to be shared between countries and offering a simple and inclusive approach to strengthen the employability of young people, to encourage innovative entrepreneurship and to promote the local digital ecosystem.
The purpose of Orange Digital Centres is to bring together several strategic programmes under the same roof: a coding school, a ‘FabLab Solidaire’, a start-up accelerator ‘Orange Fab’ and Orange Ventures Africa, the group’s investment fund. All of the programmes provided are free-of charge, open to all and include digital training for young people, 90% of which are practical training, start-up acceleration, guidance for project bearers and investment.
Orange and GIZ are working together in a development partnership of the develoPPP.de programme, which GIZ implements on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Co-operation and Development (BMZ). The project is supported by BMZ’s Special Initiative on Training and Job Creation, which also operates under the brand Invest for Jobs. The know-how of Orange in training and supporting young people in the field of digital skills and innovation will be complemented by GIZ’s extensive experience and local expertise in addressing the challenges inherent in the employability and entrepreneurship of young Ethiopians. Together with the Ethiopian partners, the GIZ and Orange hope to achieve their shared vision of greater youth employability –- including more women and girls in ICT jobs –- while supporting the country’s sustainable growth and Digital Transformation.
“Building the ‘Digital and Innovation Ecosystem’ is a multi-stakeholders agenda that requires holistic policy envisioning, vibrant enabling system and innovative and efficient collaboration among stakeholders like this responsible move of Orange and parties involved: I must acknowledge and encourage, indeed it is an initiative worth investing on,” said Dr Belay.
Neme explained that: “Ethiopia has a young, dynamic and trainable workforce, as well as supportive policies to enable the launching of a project as Orange Digital Centre. We therefore welcomed this initiative with great enthusiasm and have been supporting it since day one. Young Ethiopians will have the opportunity to develop world-class technological skills here. Young people, innovation and technology are key to shaping the future of Ethiopia.”
Debebe added that: “We are excited about the launching of an Orange Digital Centre at the IPDC’s ICT park. We are working hard in order to create world class ICT industries in Ethiopia”
“I am very proud to launch with all our partners the third Orange Digital Centre in Addis-Ababa, which will be part of a network of 32 Orange Digital Centres based across two continents: Africa/Middle East and Europe. With the support of GIZ, Orange supports East Africa’s digital ecosystem by providing young Ethiopians with all its technological know-how to create more job opportunities,” said Ndiaye. “This program will be complemented by two ODC Clubs that will be deployed swiftly in different regions to reach out to even more young people. I would like to remind you that we are planning to launch other Orange Digital Centres by the end of the year in Africa and the Middle-East.”
Ambassador Auer said “The Orange Digital Centre contributes to Ethiopia’s Digital Transformation while creating local employment prospects for young people. It shows Germany’s and the EU´s commitment to promote inclusive and human-centred digitisation worldwide.”
Intelligent CIO Africa is a technology intelligence platform aimed at the enterprise IT sector to provide targeted updates and research driven data. As part of Lynchpin Media, this digital medium gives unparalleled advice to the regional community.
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