20,000 African Youths Set To Be Employable As Orange Africa And Giz Raise The Standards In Empowerment 

-Gbenga Ajao

Orange Africa and GIZ collaborate to increase the employability of 20,000 youth in Africa.

Orange and GIZ are forming an alliance geared towards supporting the employability of the youth in Africa and the Middle East.

Present in the partnership agreement was, Alioune Ndiaye the CEO of Orange Africa and the Middle East and Kathinka Kurz, Head of The Development in Partnerships Program with the private sector at GIZ.

The two companies signed the agreement aimed at benefiting 20,000 youths from 14 countries in both Africa and the Middle East.

Orange is a multi-service operator and a leading partner in digital transformation. Their focus in the partnership is to support the development of new digital services in Africa and the Middle East, while GIZ has expert experience in supporting social development to partner countries. In the project will act as the implementation partner for the German Federal Ministry for Economics corporation and Development (BMZ).

The partnership will help the two companies make digital a chance to everyone. This will be possible by helping the youth improve in digital skills.

Orange and GIZ have contributed 30 million Euros to set up digital hubs in Africa and the Middle East–the Orange Digital Centres (ODC) which will help train young people in digital skills to reduce unemployment.

The centres will offer free training to young people in digital technology, speed up the creation of start-ups and support project leaders.

The ODCs have digital, state of the art equipment to train young people. It aswell encourages them to find work. Each country will have team representatives who will work with different stakeholders and the entrepreneurial ecosystem of each region to oversee the success of the project

Furthermore, the ODCs will extend their collaboration with regional universities to extend the skills sets to the university students.

In Africa, the program earlier launched in Tunisia and Senegal. it is set to launch in 12 other countries in no time.

Countries such as Morocco, Jordan, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Mali, Madagascar, Sierra Leone, Burkinafaso, Egypt, Guinea, and Liberia are set to benefit from the program.

The ODCs are grouped in four programs that target a specific audience. The Center aims to create synergies between all these programs

The programs comprise of a coding school, FabLab Solidaire, a start-up accelerator ‘Orange Fab’.It also includes Orange Digital Ventures Africa, an investment fund of the Orange Group.

The Coding School is a free access technology centre. It offers training, events, and support for developers, geeks and project ideas.

The FabLab Solidaire offers a digital manufacturing workshop for creating and prototyping with digital equipment. It also targets young people without diplomas and without jobs.

The FabLab Solidaire is also part of the worldwide network of 88 FabLabs Solidaires belonging to the Orange Foundation. Orange Fab and Orange Digital Ventures Africa target entrepreneurs. The first of such program a start-up accelerator that supports the most promising start-ups in their commercial development. It also helps the entrepreneurs build business partnerships with the larger worldwide network of 17 Orange Fabs.

The second, Orange Digital Ventures Africa, is a 50 million Euro investment fund. The fund financially supports innovative start-ups in countries on the African continent and in the Middle East region.