Orange Liberia and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) have officially signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), a strategic move to deepen cooperation in promoting innovation, digital inclusion, and sustainable development across Liberia.
Speaking during the signing ceremony held at the Icon 16 headquarters in Monrovia on Wednesday, November 6, 2025, the Orange Liberia CFO, Hossen Fofana, who represented Orange Liberia’s CEO at the signing ceremony said, “This collaboration reinforces our shared commitment to creating opportunities and empowering communities, and leveraging technology to drive meaningful change.”
According to him, “The partnership we are building bridge between technology, education and development with one pure goal and for Orange: to empower, and also to empower women health and vulnerable communities around all the country.”
He said Orange Liberia reaffirmed its commitment to digital inclusion by providing annual internal internet capacity supporting the Liberia e accelerator, the master repair and the first Liberia tech startup, fair 2025 together with UNDP, will also launch a tech fund to finance the most promising Liberian startup.
The CFO said, together with UNDP, Orange will also launch a tech fund to finance the most promising Liberian startup work. “Thank you also, for this partnership embodies our orange value, because at Orange, we are caring, we are bold, we are responsible,” he said.
“We are bright because we take decisive steps to close the digital gap, and we are responsible because we turn innovation into opportunity. And this is key for us. As we sign this MOU, we commit to transforming all these words into action to ensure that every young Liberian, every woman, entrepreneur and every innovator can have access to the tool of knowledge and support they need to succeed,” CFO Fofana observed.
At the same time, UNDP Resident Representative, Aliou Mamadou Dia, commended Orange Liberia and its CEO, Jean Marius Yao, for their leadership and partnership, and acknowledged the dedicated teams from both institutions for shaping this impactful collaboration.
According to him, the MOU is not simply about signing; it marks the beginning of a shared journey, one rooted in a common vision to unlock innovation, accelerate digital transformation, and empower Liberia’s youth to lead and shape the country’s future.
He said Liberia stands at a pivotal moment in its development journey and its young people full of creativity, ambition, and determination represent the nation’s greatest source of potential, yet access to technology, skills, mentorship, financing, and markets remains limited, especially for young women and rural youth.
“The UNDP and Orange Liberia partnership responds directly to these challenges and will focus on expanding digital literacy and skills training, especially for young women and vulnerable communities,” he stated.
Dia said supporting entrepreneurship and innovation hubs to help startups grow and access new markets, promoting digital inclusion beyond Monrovia, ensuring rural communities are not left behind.
Strengthening Liberia’s position in the global digital economy, fostering new livelihoods and opportunities, this initiative aligns with Liberia’s national development priorities and contributes to several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
UNDP reaffirmed the lasting development required between the public sector and the private sector and communities.
Meanwhile, Governance Commission Executive Director, Jallah C Kesselly, said Orange Liberia is one of the leading private sector institutions in the country, and formulating such a relationship with UNDP to help expand the internet connectivity will get more young people involved.
