The agreement was signed by Jérôme Hénique, CEO of Orange Middle East and Africa, and Isadora Bigourdan, CEO of Digital Africa, kickstarting the work to identify and select promising tech startups across the African continent. 

Selected startups will be able to access a range of resources, including mentoring programs, technical support, funding, and networking opportunities through the Orange Digital Center and the Digital Africa community.

The Orange Digital Centers (ODC) are ecosystems in 17 countries in Africa and the Middle East and 8 countries in Europe, that support, train, and guide young people and those with innovative ideas, to enhance their employability and prepare them for the jobs of the future (AI, cybersecurity, etc.) or encourage them to become digital entrepreneurs.

The Orange Digital Centers bring together a range of free programs open to everyone all in one place, from digital training for young people to startup acceleration, as well as support and investment for project leaders.

To intensify its activities to develop digital entrepreneurship in the priority areas of each country: environment, e-agri, e-health, e-commerce, among others, The Orange Digital Centers are entering today a new phase, ODC 2.0, with a special focus on women and the digitally excluded.

Digital Africa’s mission is to strengthen the capacity of African entrepreneurs to design and deploy digital innovations at scale for the real economy. Acting as a catalyst, Digital Africa brings together a range of partners of all nationalities – startups, researchers, incubators, institutional investors, venture capitalists, cluster techs – all committed to African digital entrepreneurs, and foremost among them is Proparco, as sole shareholder.

Digital Africa’s operational approach is based on a clear diagnosis of entrepreneurs’ needs, directly from the field, to develop a set of programs around three main priorities:

• Strengthening the skills and tools needed to launch a startup, through access to trained local talent and data
• Facilitating access to seed funding by implementing agile funding schemes such as the creation of investor communities
• Supporting “made in Africa” innovation policies that are favorable to innovative digital entrepreneurs in Africa, as well as supporting the production of knowledge on digital issues in Africa

Leveraging the vast network of Orange Digital Centers and Digital Africa, startups will be connected to potential investors, partners and customers, enabling them to develop their business and accelerate their growth.

Through this partnership, Orange and Digital Africa will continue to contribute to the development of a thriving startup ecosystem in Africa. By providing young entrepreneurs with the tools, knowledge and support they need, this collaboration aims to empower them to turn their innovative ideas into successful businesses. It is part of their shared commitment to promote digital innovation “made in Africa” and to foster socio-economic development on the continent.

At the signing ceremony, representatives from Orange and Digital Africa expressed their enthusiasm and commitment to the success of this partnership. They emphasized the importance of nurturing local talent, promoting digital inclusion, and unlocking the immense potential of African startups.

“Digital talent is key to transforming the African continent. This partnership with the Orange Digital Centers aligns with our strategy for identifying promising entrepreneurs locally and helping them to access support, funding, and lobbying tools through an international network of allies,” said Isadora Bigourdan, CEO of Digital Africa.

Jérôme Hénique, CEO of Orange Middle East and Africa, added: “We are very excited to launch this collaboration with Digital Africa, as it adds an essential component to our existing Orange Digital Centers network, facilitating access to flexible financing solutions specifically designed to meet the needs of seed-stage entrepreneurs. This collaboration represents real added value and will help stimulate the growth of the African startup ecosystem.”

I spoke on the subject of Nigerian tech startups and how the Nigeria Startup Bill (awaiting further work and eventual passage in the National Assembly) can further support these young Nigerian companies. I also spoke about the concept of venture capital (VC) from both global and local perspectives. 

Despite the Covid 19-induced global business disruptions and economic difficulties faced by most countries of the world in the past two years, international venture capitalists continued to hunger for new and existing tech startups.

Collectively they poured $643 billion in VC funding to these startups globally in 2021, a 92% year-on-year growth compared to $335 billion in 2020.

Ready access to the largest chunk of global VC funding is the principal factor for the continuing leadership and dominance of the global tech space by US companies today. They received $329 billion, 51% of the funds available globally in 2021. 

Less than $10 billion of this amount came to the 54 countries of Africa combined. There’s a tremendous room therefore for the growth of VC funds in Africa, the world’s second largest continent both in area and population; the region that has recorded the fastest growth rate in mobile subscription and internet usage in the past two decades; and a region whose youth population is increasingly comprised of digital natives. 

Based on the latest annual report for 2021 by Partech Ventures (a Paris-based VC company), Nigeria received $1.799 billion in VC funding for its tech startups, continuing its continental leadership in this critical area.

South Africa came 2nd with $832 million, with Egypt, Kenya, Senegal and Ghana receiving $652 million, $571 million, $353 million and $167 million respectively in 2021.

Startups in Tanzania, Algeria, Mauritius and Tunisia received $46 million, $43 million, $38 million and $33 million respectively. 

The forthcoming Nigeria Venture Capital Summit, slated for November 10-11, 2022 in Abuja is aimed at helping the country to substantially step up its game in attracting even more VC funds for its growing number of tech and non-tech startups in 2023 and beyond. 

Signed, Sealed and Delivered: The 10th Digital Africa Conference and Exhibition ends on exciting note

An event that is organized consistently on a fixed frequency (monthly, quarterly or annually) is ​​one of the most powerful tools that you can deploy to brand your company.

This was my clear understanding when, back in May 2012, my company proposed to our client (Compumetrics Solutions Limited, chaired by Dr. Evans Woherem), to establish an annual tech show.

Dr. Woherem didn’t just embrace this proposal, he brought out his massive clout, as Nigeria’s most accomplished banking technology leader till date, to bear on the task of successfully birthing the event.

About 11 months down the road, the 1st Digital Africa Conference and Exhibition was held in April 2013 in Abuja, with Chief Oba Otudeko, Chairman of Airtel Africa, chairing the occasion; and Mrs. Omobola Johnson, the then Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, officially cutting the ribbon to declare the event open.   

The baby (an annual tech conference in Abuja, aimed at helping Nigeria and the rest of Africa to embrace tech far more passionately than ever before) was born on April 23-25, 2013! 

The 2nd Digital Africa Conference and Exhibition 2014 was held in Lagos. The event was moved to Lagos on purpose, so that it could be held, side by side, the World Electronics Forum (WEF) which Woherem and his friends from abroad brought to Nigeria that year.

WEF is the global body of the consumer electronics association of the leading tech countries of the world today: USA, China, Japan, Germany, India, UK, France, South Korea, etc. WEF is held annually, rotating from one host city to another. 

Digital Africa Conference and Exhibition returned to Abuja for its 3rd edition in 2015. From then onwards, the show has been held every year, without fail.

Even with the Covid 19 pandemic, which brought several challenges and disruptions to economies worldwide, the 9th Digital Africa (DA) was held successfully in 2021, albeit in a virtual format.

Prof. Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami), presented his keynote address from his desk at the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy in Abuja. Other speakers from Nigeria and abroad similarly hooked up virtually. 

Though this is a tribute to Evans Woherem, let me however mention Mr. Biodun Omoniyi, MD/CEO of Lagos-based VDT Communications Limited, who has attended all the 10 editions; and whose company has exhibited in all of them. I’ll do a separate post on this tomorrow.

At the closing ceremony of DA 2022, which had earlier been declared open by Isa Ibrahim Pantami, Nigeria’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Woherem’s joy was full. He couldn’t contain his excitement on this successful journey of the past 10 years. 

I myself was super excited to be on ground at Baze University, Abuja, during the closing ceremony yesterday.

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The Digital Africa Conference and Exhibition is Africa’s premier consumer technology show and is scheduled to hold from 28th to 30th June at Baze University in Abuja.

Stakeholders will look into unlocking some of the barriers that is affecting the digital future of Africa, building capacities and positioning the continent effectively and efficiently in the global technology race, as well as building African contents.

The conference will also provide the perfect platform to showcase various brands and enhance reputation. It presents to its participants a major opportunity for unrivalled networking and privileged access to strategic partners, investors and potential buyers.

Dr. Evans Woherem, Chairman, Digital Africa Global Consult and organiser of the event said there Is an urgent need for Africa to bridge the gap between the continent and the developed world in Information Technology, especially the exponential technologies driving the 4th Industrial Revolution.

“I have always believed that you, as an individual or as a nation, can go to wherever or whatever altitude your vision, attitude, willpower and single-minded execution takes you.

He said Africa needs to first affirm to itself that to catch up and even outflank many other continents is an existential imperative for which an eponymous amount of heavy lifting is needed urgently.

“I, therefore, call on the Africa Union and all the countries in Africa to take this project seriously and so, come up with their respective visions, policies, and plans and execute same meticulously and urgently, paying particular attention to human capacity building, research, the establishment of Tech hubs, bricolage centres, funding, etc.

“This, I believe, will go a long way in taking Africa to the desired levels of technological and economic development needed as we complete this century and head to the 22nd century,” he said.

Woherem said that it has been established time and time again that there is no development, no high standard of living without a commensurate level of development in technology, adding that in today’s world, no one or country can hope to become advanced in the area of technology without first being advanced in the development and use of technology.

“From whichever way you look at it, Information Technology is very vital and pivotal for whatever countries would want to do in order to achieve development. It is for this reason that some of us came together, not solely from Nigeria but people from the United Kingdom, Germany, Kenya, and Cameroon and said we should have an organization called Digital Africa,” he said.

According to Woherem, “Digital Africa Conference & Exhibition is about enabling Africa to bridge the gap between us and the rest of the World. This is because today, there are Companies and Countries that are already winners when it comes to IT and there are those that are losers.

“The losers are merely countries in Africa; the winners are those developed Countries in Europe, America and now on the increase many Countries in Asia and even Countries in South America such as Mexico, Argentina and Brazil. They are the winners of evolving technology we have today.

“Something needs to be done and done very urgently for us to bridge the gap. So far, Africa has been a consumer continent when it comes to IT. We just sit and consume some, not even all of what is being produced in other parts of the world.

“The IT systems that we are going to use in the next 30-40 years are already being fabricated in the laboratories of Countries in the West and some other countries like China, India and so on. But here in Africa we are not doing much. Even in creating content in IT, Africa lags behind the rest of the world.”

Some of the confirmed speakers for the conference are Prof. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, Hon. Minister, Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy; Mallam Inuwa Kashifu, Director General of NITDA; Mitchell Elegbe, Managing Director, Interswitch; Ghazi Triki, Chief Executive Officer, RIADVICE, Tunisia; Dr. Vincent Olatunji, National Commissioner/CEO of the Nigeria Data Protection Bureau (NDPB); Dr. Krish Ranganath, Chief Technology Officer, Africa Data Centres; Dr. Krish Ragnath, C.T.O, Africa Data Centers; Dr. Yele Okeremi, C.E.O, Precise Financial Systems, Peter Oluka, Editor at TechEconomy.ng.

Ghazi Triki will be sharing his insights and playbook on how he has been able to lead a digital transformation company in Tunisia at the Digital Africa Conference.

Ghazi grew RIADVICE technology stack 10 baremetal server to around 70 in the first week of COVID19 spread in the third week of March 2020. Then reached the summit with around 173 servers in March 2021.

As a former Adobe Flex (Apache Flex) developer with strong development background, Ghazi combines the expertise development knowledge for PHP & Java (rare developers who can combine the 2 of them), Golang & Ruby.