Orange announces the launch of its start-up accelerator programme in the Ivory Coast and Israel
With “Orange Fab Ivory Coast” and “Fab Israel”, Orange’s network of start-up accelerators is now present on four continents. The programme, which is a pillar of the Group’s open innovation approach, reflects the determination of Orange to support the new digital players and help them grow by accelerating innovation.
The 4 start-ups of Orange Fab Ivory Coast
4 start-ups were selected from 86 submissions:
ICT4Dev.ci: A platform for managing agricultural cooperatives composed of an information web portal (Lôr Bouôr); a distribution system for the agricultural prices via mobile (Djori Djori); a vocal booth (Djassi); and a virtual market.
Samartsell: A management solution for points of sale with the following functions: remote management and automation of inventory, billing with mobile devices and selling of airtime from cash registers in order to solve the problems of currency.
Sycelim: Responds to the needs of the insurance and healthcare programmes for asset management, billing management and pension payments. Sycelim also supports the management of the patient’s follow-up: registration of benefits, conditions, prescriptions and medical dispensations pharmacies.
Sportif 225: A sports web agency whose main activity is the sale of web and mobile services adapted to the sport environment, the production of sport contents and the creation of sport events.
The aim of Orange Fab Ivory Coast is to facilitate the development of start-ups in the Ivorian economic system. In order to be eligible, the start-ups must already have a product / service in one of the following fields : customer experience, digital solutions for the company connected objects, social networks and community services, e-commerce, everyday life, local content, mobile payment and money transfer, e-education, e-agriculture and e-health.
The selected start-ups will be supported for 3 months in the development of their product and their business. They will benefit from the valuable mentoring of fifty coaches, including Orange mentors, entrepreneurs and local academics. Moreover, six workshops will be offered to them.
They will also have the opportunity to test their products in the customers’ testing center of Orange in Abidjan, have access to Orange’s APIs and will receive financial support in the form of a convertible note of 15,000 euros. They will also benefit from workspaces and from communication services made available by Orange Ivory Coast and the Technocentre of Orange, based in Abidjan. Finally they can participate in two demo days (in Abidjan and Paris) and two investment forums.
Besides its commitment with start-ups, Orange has also attracted the interest of African partners and of the ecosystem of developers in Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Mali and Senegal by organising an API challenge this summer via Orange Partner, the programme for developers exposing Orange APIs.
Developers received the SMS, USSD and credit airtime API’s and were challenged to develop various applications for different sectors (agriculture, transportation, voting and games). Orange will use the feedback from developers in order to launch an API portfolio in 2015, dedicated to the AMEA region, starting with the launch of the SMS API.
The 5 start-ups of Fab Israel
5 start-ups were selected from150 submissions:
Parko: A traffic data management application with a ’smart’ navigation that offers a real-time estimation of how long it will take to find a parking space.
Idomoo: Delivers large-scale personalised video solutions for companies in order to improve communication across every stage of the customer lifecycle.
mpharma: Reinvents how pharmaceuticals are prescribed, delivered and monitored in Africa.
LogDog: Protects online accounts from hacking (Facebook, gmail, Twitter…) and sends you an alert if there is any suspicious activity.
Evolero: A platform for event organisers which facilitates the creation of events’ websites while using a variety of social tools.
“With the opening of two new accelerators in Israel and Ivory Coast, the network of Orange Fab is now present on four continents. We believe it is our role to support, internationally, the growth of start-ups, which is a win-win situation”, declares Mari-Noëlle Jégo-Laveissière, Senior Executive Vice President of Innovation, Marketing and Technologies of Orange.
Orange engages closely with start-ups and entrepreneurs
The Orange Group has set a range of measures to support innovative entrepreneurs through its accelerator Orange Fab, the Orange Partner program dedicated to developers and funding, through Iris Capital, a venture capitalist of which Orange is a shareholder. Orange is also working with Deutsche Telekom as part of their respective acceleration start-ups programs and with AppCampus in order to promote the creation of mobile applications.
Furthermore, Orange is a founding member of the « Startup Europe Partnership » and of the « European Digital Forum », two initiatives of the “Action Plan for Entrepreneurship 2020” of the European Commission. Finally, Orange also supports innovation in Africa through the three incubators that it opened, in Dakar, Senegal, in Mauritius and in Niamey, Niger.