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Orange Middle East and Africa at the Africa Tech Festival

Africa Tech Festival, 13 – 16 November 2023 | Cape Town

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Orange, a Multi-Service Operator Accelerating the Digital Transformation in the Middle East and Africa

We meet strong local expectations in terms of digital, financial, energy, and societal inclusion. We rely on our local roots, with 18,000 employees serving our 146 million customers. Through our Orange Digital Centers’ in 18 countries in Africa and the Middle East, we contribute to increase the digital inclusion by training 1 million young people.

By supporting the region’s digital transformation, we’re developing our capabilities as a multi-service operator. For Africa Tech Festival in Cape Town, we are focused on inclusion: digital inclusion with fixed and mobile networks, financial inclusion with financial services and energy inclusion with our effective energy management.

Orange Middle East and Africa is glad to be part of this new edition of Africa Tech Festival 2023! Follow us as we talk about inclusion, networks and green energy.

Keynotes & Sessions

Keynote

Orange in the Middle East and Africa Accelerate Inclusion for All

Speaker: Brelotte Ba

14st November, 9:20AM to 9:35AM

Auditorium 2, CTICC 1

Panel

Capitalizing on Africa's Rich Resources to Accelerate the Shift Towards Green Energy

Speaker: Jocelyn Karakula

14st November, 12:10PM to 1:00PM

1.61 – Level 1, CTICC 1

Panel

Rethinking the 5G Approach for African Markets to Realise Its Full Potential

Speaker: Yasser Shaker

14st November, 12:55PM to 1:35PM

1.41- Level 1, CTICC 1

Panel

Driving Innovation: Unravelling the Business Applications of 5G FWA in Africa

Speaker: Néné Maiga

14st November, 2:20PM to 2:50PM

AfricaCom Centre Stage

Fireside Chat

OpenRAN Africa: How Interoperable Networks Could be the Future of MNO Efficiency

Speaker: Rami Ben Gadri

14st November, 3:00PM to 3:30PM

1.41- Level 1, CTICC 1

Orange Money

Boucle Orange Energies

Meet the Experts

Brelotte Ba

Deputy CEO, Orange Middle East and Africa

A graduate of the Ecole Polytechnique and the Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées in Paris, Brelotte Ba joined the Orange Sonatel Group in 2001, where he successively held four positions as General Manager at Orange: in Guinea Bissau between 2008 and 2011, in Niger between 2012 and 2017, in Guinea between 2017 and 2018 and finally in Mali between 2018 and 2022.

Building on this experience in Sub-Saharan Africa, in his last position as General Manager in Mali, Brelotte focused on accelerating the deployment of fixed and mobile broadband networks, which led to more than 90% of the Malian population now being covered by 4G, while simultaneously deploying fiber networks for FTTH offers.

He also made digitalization a priority for Orange Mali, in particular by simplifying the customer experience for Orange Money, and for new diversification offers such as energy and IT services. In July 2021, the subsidiary began building a 25 MWp solar farm in collaboration with the Malian Electricity Company (EDM), which will make it the first remote self-production project in Sub-Saharan Africa. In 2021, Orange Mali experienced strong growth (11.4%) and these amazing achievements earned Brelotte the CEO of the Year award at AfricaCom 2021.

On July 1, 2022, Brelotte Ba was appointed Deputy CEO of Orange Middle East and Africa, which has 18 subsidiaries and provides services to over 146 million customers.

Jocelyn Karakula

CTIO, OMEA

Jocelyn Karakula is currently CTIO at Orange Middle East and Africa. Before joining OMEA, he held a number of positions within the Orange Group, including Director of Wholesale Sales for Orange, VP Service Delivery for International Wholesale Services, and Project Manager for network transformation projects (space sector, submarine cables, etc.). Jocelyn Karakula is a graduate of ENIC (Ecole Nouvelle d'Ingénieurs en Communication de Lille - France).

Yasser Shaker

CEO, Orange Egypt

Shaker was appointed as the CEO of Orange Egypt as of May 1st, 2018 and he has been playing a significant role in the technology sector for over 20 years.

His previous position was Senior VP, CTIO Orange Middle East and Africa (OMEA) where he contributed to the successful execution of Orange Group strategy towards the development of the digitalization in 19 countries. Prior to that, he has been the CTO of Orange Egypt, and has been a board member of several companies.

Néné Maiga

CEO Orange Botswana

Néné Maïga became the CEO of Orange Botswana in September 2021.

Prior to that, she was appointed chief of Staff to the CEO of Orange Middle East and Africa in May 2018. In this position, she led structuring projects for the whole MEA region, aiming at improving value creation and inclusivity. She set up an innovative graduate programme and leads OMEA’s initiative to become a role model for gender parity.

Her previous position was CEO of Orange Finances Mobiles Mali, the mobile money branch of Orange Mali and the leading financial service provider in the country with over 50% of adults having an account. She achieved exceptional growth in customer base and revenues, while introducing new and innovative services that impacted the lives of Malian customers for the better. She also transformed practices to make the operation much more compliant with financial regulation.

She joined Sonatel in 2016, after a couple of years working for Canal+ in Cameroon, the leading payTV business. She had started her career in France as a consultant and then chose to go back to the continent of the future: Africa.

Néné Maïga is from the region of Timbuktu, Mali. She holds a master’s degree in management from HEC Paris Grande Ecole.

Rami Ben Gadri

Deputy CTIO, Orange Middle East and Africa

Rami Ben Gadri is a seasoned executive and a distinguished professional with a wealth of international experience in the telecommunications industry. With a career spanning over 25 years, he has demonstrated outstanding strategy and execution skills, focusing on innovation, value creation, and profitable growth. He has a track record of managing large multicultural organizations and multi-million Euro projects in both wireless and wireline networks across Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

Rami's academic background includes an MSc and a PhD in Electrical Engineering from University of Toulouse III in France.

After a research experience in the US, Rami held several positions within a Tier 1 Network Vendor R&D and a major European Opco in France.

More recently, Rami held key and Exco level positions within Orange Group, including CTIO of Orange Cameroon and OMEA Director of ITN Transformation and Strategy. He also made significant contributions during his tenure at Orange Tunisia, by successfully delivering cutting-edge 2G/3G/4G mobile networks.

In his most recent role as Deputy Chief Technology and Information Officer at Orange Middle East and Africa, Rami led strategic initiatives encompassing Network transformation strategies for the 17 Orange affiliates in Africa and Middle East. His influence extended to towerco collaborations, Digital, Satellite and International Connectivity strategies, as well as international partnerships.