Orange Group has organizing the regional grand final of the pan-African “Orange Esport Experience” championship on January 28 and 29, 2023, in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire.
Orange has supported the development of Esport by organizing national and international competitions aimed at bringing out young “gaming” talent in the region. Officially created in 2018, the fourth edition of the “Orange Esport Experience” competition is being held in Côte d’Ivoire. For this new edition, fourteen African countries are taking part in this regional grand final: Benin, Cameroon, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Ghana, Guinea, Madagascar, Mali, Morocco, Democratic Republic of Congo, Senegal, Central African Republic, and Sierra Leone.
For two days, the champions of these countries will compete on some of the most popular games in the world, such as Street Fighter V, FIFA 2023, eFootball 2023 (formerly PES) and during a demonstration match on League Of Legends.
Today, gaming is a professional discipline contributing to the creation of many jobs, namely in the fields of cybersecurity, AI, and Open Innovation. We estimate that Esport represents a market of over a billion dollars worldwide. Brelotte Ba, East Deputy Director of Orange Africa and Middle East, emphasizes: “With a mainly young population and the spread of Superfast Broadband, Africa offers the ideal setting for this booming discipline.”
Mamadou Bamba, Orange Côte d’Ivoire Managing Director, says “As a player committed to digital technology, sport and culture in Africa, Orange Côte d’Ivoire is dedicated to defending innovation in all its forms. It’s therefore an honor to host the fourth edition of the Orange eSport Experience in Abidjan this year, an initiative that represents a connected Africa. If Côte d’Ivoire is now able to host one of the largest Esport competitions, it’s thanks to the efforts made by private players to offer high-quality connectivity to all the populations.”
Finally, Orange will reveal a world first at this event: “Max your identity”. The aim of this brand-new experience is to promote the cultures of the continent in video games. Of the many video games that exist, none offer costumes that represent Africa or the Middle East. The aim is to enable players to represent themselves through costumes from the regions they come from, combining tradition and modernity and designed in collaboration with three young designers from different countries in the region.
Yasmine El Tazi for the MENA region, Ibrahim Fernandez for the SSA region, and finally Marie-Laure Jaomatana for Madagascar. In this way, players from around the world can now wear these traditional costumes in the games with pride.
Orange is one of the world’s leading telecommunications operators with sales of 42.5 billion euros in 2021 and 136,500 employees worldwide at 30 September 2022, including 75,000 employees in France. The Group has a total customer base of 286 million customers worldwide at 30 September 2022, including 240 million mobile customers and 24 million fixed broadband customers. The Group is present in 26 countries.
Orange is also a leading provider of global IT and telecommunication services to multinational companies under the brand Orange Business Services. In December 2019, the Group presented its “Engage 2025” strategic plan, which, guided by social and environmental accountability, aims to reinvent its operator model. While accelerating in growth areas and placing data and AI at the heart of its innovation model, the Group will be an attractive and responsible employer, adapted to emerging professions.