As the fastest growing mobile company, the globally renowned telecom operator, Orange Sierra Leone – Orange SL, since its inception in three years in the country in 2016, has stamped its innovative foot print in the telecom industry by leading the democratization of telecoms and digital revolution in Sierra Leone.
The company has invested about $133, 000, 000 in network modernization, expansion, human resources and Corporate Social Responsibilities CSR.
A video shared with this medium explains that in the area of network expansion Orange SL has 45 new sites in 2017, 42 in 2018 and 55 new sites in 2019, indicating that the company only in three years has completed an additional total of 142 new sites connecting more that 1,170 new localities with thousands of Sierra Leoneans now accessing financial services, voice, and data for the very first time.
What a novelty, as Orange SL is now a proud owner of 391 sites across the country, with the widest network coverage in Sierra Leone, covering about 74% of the country’s populations in respect.
The video furthered that in respect of human resources, Orange SL has invested $ 16, 000,000 on capacity development, through soft skills and leadership trainings. Orange SL’s commitment towards nurturing talents of its employees in ensuring retentions and provide exposure opportunities to other Orange SL’s affiliates.
So far the company has invested $ 400,000 mainly in the areas of women’s empowerment, health, education and the environment as part of Orange SL’s endless CSR, making it the first telecom operator in Sierra Leone to contribute to Government’s Free Quality Education.
The company apart from that also rolled out five projects in support of Government’s flagship programme of Free Quality Education for the provisions of material aids for a period of five years.
It also explains that Orange SL in 2019 in collaboration with the Ministry of Information and Communications, the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education launched the Inter-Secondary Schools Quiz Competitions, Solar Kids, opened classrooms, and distributed 2,000 hygiene pads to girls in 20 schools in western urban and western rural communities, where the telecom company also embarked on awareness raising and sensitization on sexual and reproductive health.
Orange SL in readiness towards bridging the country’s digital gap, a Le 2.75 billion project for young people coupled with the refurbishing of the headquarters building of the Sierra Leone News Agency on Wallace Johnson Street in Freetown.
The telecom company is also on sound records for providing support for 50 Ebola orphans since 2015 in partnership with SOS Children’s Village, until they are 18 years old.
Also as part of its CSR, Orange SL is in strong collaboration with the Thinking Pink Foundation and annually partners with the foundation in its awareness raising on breast cancer in women, as well as providing financial support for the treatments of women cancer patients.
In the area of its interventions in environmental protections, Orange SL is the first company that secured an Environmental Impact Assessment License from the Environmental Protection Agency, and subsequently bagged an award for its consistency ensuring environmental protection from South Climate Change Africa in partnership with EPA.
