By: Melvin Tejan-Mansaray
Orange Telecommunication Company Sierra Leone is indisputably in a pole position as one of Africa’s top business integrity organizations, having won the Africa Leadership award which the company’s say is an extra energy for it to keep fulfilling and improving it organizational structure, which observers say is an envy to many at home and abroad.
Aminata Kane Ndiaye Chief Executive Officer Orange SL told African Leadership Magazine: “We are pursuing a strong industrial project in Sierra Leone that is geared towards covering most of the country with telecoms services, services that will improve rural connectivity and also our quality of service.”
Corruption has been an undermining factor for the failure of most businesses and companies in Africa but Orange say, this is why it has an unmatched internal checks and balance system, processes review while eternally it closely collaborating with the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC).
“We note with importance, the recognition granted to us as one of Africa’s top business integrity organizations by Africa Leadership Awards, as that serves as a super motivation for us to keep maintaining and improving our organizational structure. Achieving such feature is based on standard systems that we have incorporated into our working environment. We ensure strict adherence of such systems by all employees, regardless of their capacities within the company,” Orange says.
Currently, Orange is a signatory to the New York Stock Exchange, an opportunity that the company sees this as an attestation of its high and consistent business standards.
But what is informing Orange’s sterling consistency and integrity in the corporate world. The Company say the answer to this question in embedded in its six features which guide its working environment from impropriety.
Orange say it administration has been enjoying a very strong ties with the ACC, the country’s lead anti corruption watchdog organization, ensuring that its administrative governance structure is well monitored to ensure that everyone stays within the ambit of the company’s procedures and practices, adding that its strategic risk map analysis provides analysis on potential areas, if any, it should strengthen to stay alert in an ever changing business climate.
We ensure that all contracts even with 3rd parties have compliance clauses, plus whistle blowing mechanisms which keeps everyone with our brand on their toes, the Company says.
Another secret behind the pole vaulting status of Orange is that the company regularly conducts trainings for employees on best practice and, significantly, “We further have a dedicated department that ensures all specific process and procedures are adhered to.”
Uniquely, Orange’s CEO Aminata seats as the only telecom representative at the ACC Advisory Council, being an institutional representative of all telecoms and the corporate family in the country’s anti graft agency.
Outside of best practice, the company has been contributing tremendously on its corporate social responsibility. It has been a part of the fight against climate change having received an Outstanding Humanitarian Award by Shout Climate Change Africa in partnership with the EPA, having injected Le 2.75 billion on the first coding school for young people in partnership with DSTI, pledging $1.5m in material assistance for five years to the free quality education. The company boasts of investing $16m in the last two years in human resources capacity building in soft skills, technical and leadership training.
Other Orange investments in the telecommunication industry speaks loudly and is second to none in the country.
Since the inception of Orange Operations in Sierra Leone, the company sag it has invested about $133 million dollars in the areas of Network modernization and expansion, Human Resources as well as corporate social responsibility in the last three years.
Orange acquired 247 sites, in only three years, Orange has completed a total of 147 new sites, thereby connecting more than 1,170 new localities, with thousands of Sierra Leoneans now accessing data, voice and financial services for the first time. Orange is now a proud owner of 394 sites across the country with the widest coverage in Sierra Leone covering about 74% of the country’s population, all of which undoubtedly positions Orange as a good and leading example for other telecoms and corporate entities to emulate.