By Janet A. Sesay
The leading mobile company in Sierra Leone, Orange Sierra Leone Limited, has on Friday, 2 June 2023 given their first update to the media about their successes and achievements that they have made as a company across the country.
This programme was held at their head office at Hill Station in Freetown.
The keynote speaker Mr BolorSesay thanked the media for the value they had given to Orange as an entity and also highlighted the role of the media to the success of Orange Sierra Leone’s business.
He said the media landscape over the past decade years has undergone transformation and the emergence of this new technology has opened up opportunities for more vibrant and diverse media.
He said for Orange Sierra Leone the media has played an important role in building brand awareness, connecting them to their customers and also achieving business goals.
He furthered that the media is important for promoting products and services to the public and that Orange relies heavily on different media channels to advertise their products and services; therefore, it is important to note that the brand awareness connecting to the customers and achieving business goals is one of the critical roles the media plays to Orange Sierra Leone.
He furthered that the media has helped Orange Sierra Leone in dealing directly with its existing customers and addressing any issue they have, adding that customers can reach Orange through the different social platforms like Facebook and Twitter, including that the company itself also uses its website and customer service hotlines to interact with customers and resolve their complaints in a timely manner.
He said through the media Orange can now monitor customer sentiments and also gauge customer satisfaction on it products and services.
He continued that the media also serves as a platform for Orange to promote itsbrand values and corporate initiatives, adding that Orange often partners with media to raise awareness on social causes that it supports such as financial inclusion, women’s empowerment and youth development programmes.
He said this publicity through the media has helped strengthen Orange’s reputation and brand image in the eyes of the public.
In summary he said the media has played a critical role in Orange Sierra Leone’s business by enabling marketing, advertising and facilitating customer services and boosting the company’s image and credibility.
He said a well thought out media strategy would be crucial for one to achieve its business goals for the years to come, adding that the company will continue to be with different media channels creatively and effectively to stay very firm and connect with customers.
Madam Danita, General Secretary, Orange Sierra Leone Limited stated that this is a symbolic event for Orange Sierra Leone because they recognised the significant effort of the media and also appreciate the commitment in bringing accurate, reliable and timely news to the general public about this great company.
She said the dedication of the media to provide the most updated information and insightful analyses on a wide range of topics has been very critical for ensuring that the people of this country are well informed about Orange products and services and the positive impact they are making today in the society which they operate.
She said that as a company they recognise the critical role that the media plays in upholding the ideas on freedom of the press and keeping the public informed, adding that they value their partnership with the media and that they are committed to work with the media to ensure that news and events are accurately and fairly reported to the general public.
She said they understand that the work the media do require significant effort, time and resources, assuring the media they respect the media’s dedication to their craft.
She said as a company they are also committed to the media’s take on transparency and accountability, and they believe in open and honest communication with the public and the media, adding that they strive to provide timely and accurate information about their operations and events.
She said in this age of social media and fake news it is reassuring for Orange to know that they can still trust the media to provide them with unbiased and fact based reporting, adding that the relentlessness of the media coupled with the media’s unrevealing commitment to the principles of good journalism with integrity is a big hope for their company.
She said they also recognise that the media landscape is quickly evolving in reporting skills and they are committed to adapt to these changes in order for them to continue to partner with the media.
The President of the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ), Ahmed Nasrala, in his statement said Orange Sierra Leone and the media have come a long way, adding that there has been mutual respect and support.
He said the media know that Orange has helped sustain the media as the media is going through difficult time.
He said Orange and SLAJ have been very engaging especially when he was the Secretary General of SLAJ under former President Kelvin Lewis and Orange did numerous programmes with the media like the scholarship programme where Orange supported journalists to go to college and do their master’s, adding that some were supported to do their PhD programmes.
He said Orange also helped children of journalists to pay their school fees in both junior and senior secondary schools.
He said Orange supported in establishing the welfare funds under his leadership as president, which is used to support public interest media and journalists in times of crises.
Orange also supports SLAJ for the election to give credible information to the public around the elections as they have a newsroom situated at the SLAJ office.
In his presentation, head of PR/CSR, Kamal Abass said the Chief Executive Officer of Orange Sierra Leone,SekouAmadou Bah, joined the company in March 2022 with a strong ambition to invest and accelerate digital transformation, social and financial inclusion in Sierra Leone and to establish Orange as a trusted partner for economic development.
He said Mr Bah has worked in the Orange Group for over ten years and has a wealth of experience in the field of financial innovation management.
He said Orange has been present in Sierra Leone for only six years and yet it has already stamped its CSR footprints across the country with an ambition to drive socioeconomic development.
He said they launched the Orange Foundation under three pillars namely health, education and culture in the last five years and their total contribution has amounted to two hundred and eighty-four billion leones(NLe284,000,000) and their CRS contribution amounted to seventeen billion leones (NLe17,000,000).
He also said their 2022 CSR brochure provides full report of their 2022 corporate and social activities ranging from their corporate contributions, environmental activities for green energy, building of additional early learning development centres, promotion of digital inclusion, community health project on maternal mortality and several other philanthropic activities related to meeting the socioeconomic needs of our society.
He said Orange Sierra Leone Limited is committed to protecting the environment and they acknowledge the potential environment impact that their operations may have on the environment.
He said the purpose of their environment programmes is to ensure reduction of their carbon footprint, environmental compliance and ensuring protection of the environment, adding that this applies to the management, employees and all Orange Sierra Leone services and products.