The French group opened its new operational head office in the Casablanca Finance City Tower in Morocco (pictured).
Africa is a strategic priority for the Group, generating sales revenue of €5.2 billion in 2018 and with an average annual growth rate of 6%, Orange in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) proved to be a robust investment.
Autonomy to serve the local market
Since 2015, Orange MEA has gradually gained greater more autonomy to develop its business in the region, appointing Alioune Ndiaye, as its CEO in May 2018.
When announcing its five-year strategic plan, Engage 2025, at the beginning of December, Orange cited MEA, financial and other services, plus the business-to-business market as its main three engines of growth.
Orange said its goal is to become the “reference digital operator” in the MEA region and plans to reinforce its multi-services strategy there so that diversified services represent 20% of the business by the end of the the Engage 2025 period.
The company says Orange Money should achieve revenue of about €900 million and continue to develop content, e-health and energy offers in parallel.
Orange invests €1 billion in MEA on building and improving connectivity every year.
Long-term ambitions
Stéphane Richard, Chairman and CEO of Orange Group was present at the opening of the new African HQ, and said, “Orange is one of the rare international groups to have made the strategic choice, 20 years ago, to seek to develop in Africa and the Middle East. We have always been convinced of the immense potential of this continent.’
“In many ways, it can be seen as a model for digital transformation; mobile money is a great example of this. One of the key success factors behind new services is to develop them in Africa so that they are adapted to specific local requirements and so meet the needs of our customers.
“That is why we have decided to organise the management of our business in Africa and the Middle East from within the region directly from the African continent.”
At a glance
The operator is present in 18 countries in Africa and the Middle East where it had 125 million customers on 30 October 2019.
Orange Money, its mobile-based money transfer and financial services offer is available in 17 countries and has 45 million customers.
One African in ten is a customer of Orange Middle East and Africa and one African in 30 is a customer for Orange Middle East and Africa’s banking and financial services.
Almost 30% of the Orange Group’s 4G customers reside in MEA and in all the countries where the Group operates in the region, the 18,000 employees contribute to local social and economic development.
Orange claims its activities contribute to GDP across its footprint: 8% in Cameroon, 8.2% in Guinea, 11% in Côte d’Ivoire and 11.2% in Senegal.