Under the patronage of the Minister of Labor, Nayef Stetieh, Orange Jordan signed an agreement on Sunday, August 14, 2022, with the Vocational Training Corporation to launch Orange FabLab, a coding academy, and an accelerator at a vocational training center in Al-Salt in the governorate of Balqa.

The Director General of the Vocational Training Corporation, Engineer Ahmed Gharaibeh, and Orange Jordan's Deputy CEO/CFO, Raslan Deiranieh, signed the agreement to launch the programs, as part of “Innovation Space”, a three-year project co-funded by the EU’s “Innovation for Enterprise Growth and Jobs” program aiming to promote digital empowerment and innovation culture on a wider scale.

The new free digital programs that will be launched at the vocational training corporation in Balqa are an extension of the “Innovation Space” project that seeks to expand Orange’s free digital programs and give youth the opportunity to benefit from training in digital skills growing in demand to enhance their employability and support them in launching their own projects.

Under the agreement, the new programs in Balqa will include an Orange FabLab to train the applicants on digital fabrication skills, tools, and machinery to enable joiners to create prototypes, the coding academy to train students for 7 months on programming languages with the aim of “Training for Employment”, in addition to an accelerator supporting startups to enhance their growth and expansion.

The Minister of Labor, Nayef Steitieh, affirmed that this agreement comes to effect with Orange Jordan, the responsible digital leader, and one of the global Orange group’s subsidiaries, through its corporate social responsibility strategy, in response to the directives of HM King Abdullah II and the crown prince Al Hussein Bin Abdullah II, and within the government’s directions to modernize and update the vocational training ecosystem, to create a sustainable impact on the lives of Jordanians.

These programs emanate from Orange Jordan’s social role and leading efforts in implementing many free programs to empower Jordanians and promote digital inclusion, reflecting positively on socioeconomic development, Stetieh added.

Orange Jordan's Deputy CEO/CFO, Raslan Deiranieh, expressed excitement about the cooperation between Orange Jordan and the Vocation Training Corporation towards achieving common goals that will contribute to empowering youth with the needed skills to join the labor market, noting that the digital programs in Balqa are part of Orange Jordan’s keenness to cover the Kingdom’s regions through expanding in the Capital, North and South, as the number of beneficiaries/certificates granted within the “Innovation Space” project reached 20,000.

The company, added Deiranieh, is committed to expanding the circle of beneficiaries under the “Innovation Space” project, stemming from Orange Jordan’s role as a responsible digital leader that drives sustainable empowerment to enhance the beneficiaries’ contribution to socioeconomic progress. He also expressed pride in the strategic partnerships working towards this goal.

The Director General of the Vocational Training Corporation, Engineer Ahmed Gharaibeh, stated that the corporation is keen to promote partnership with all parties linked to vocation and technical training in developmental sectors to provide sustainable training and employment opportunities for males and females and to contribute to the government's efforts to employ youth in the Kingdom’s governorates.

The corporation's future plans include turning to technological applications, AI, IoT, the science and coding of robotics, and data management fields, Gharaibeh noted.

The EU-funded “Innovation Space” project supports the expansion of Orange Jordan’s digital programs to include 9 Community Digital Centers, 5 new coding academies, 5 FabLabs, 8 start-up accelerators and incubators, in addition to an “Innovation Hub” at the Orange Digital Village in Amman.

The program is a pioneering initiative in Jordan and a one-stop shop for digital innovation and entrepreneurial support. It introduces digital culture, fosters digital skills – especially among women and youth – and promotes and nurtures entrepreneurship by identifying key opportunities for digital economic growth.

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About Innovate Jordan programme:

The 'Innovation for Enterprise Growth & Jobs' (Innovate Jordan) is a EUR 20 million programme, funded by the European Union in Jordan. The programme’s overall objective is to support private sector-led innovation that could drive inclusive economic development and promote systematic change in the local enterprise and innovation ecosystem in Jordan. The Programme will be implemented until 2024, through three grants. The First Grant action, ‘Scale-Up Roadmap for Growing Enterprises’ (SURGE), is implemented by a consortium led by Endeavor Jordan in partnership with BeyondCapital and Oasis500. The Second Grant action, ‘Jordan Industry 4.0 & Digitalization Innovation Centre’, (InJo4.0) is implemented by a consortium led By SAM Engineering & Trade Co. in partnership with Amman Chamber of Industry, and Transition Technologies - Advanced Solutions. The Third Grant action, “Innovation Space,” is implemented by Orange Jordan.

About Orange Jordan

Orange Jordan is the Kingdom’s digital leader and one of the subsidiaries of Orange Global Group, featuring the best networks and innovative digital solutions, with a broad the lineup of fixed, mobile, internet, data, and Smart Life Solutions, with more than 1500 dedicated employees are dedicated to meeting the expectations of a total the base of about 4,3 million customers across the Kingdom.

Orange Jordan offers a wide range of communication services not only to individuals but also to businesses under the brand Orange Business Services (OBS).

The company takes pride in seven core values: transparency, agility, results-oriented, customer centricity, collaboration, caring, and excellence.

Through its comprehensive corporate social responsibility strategy, Orange Jordan continues to make a sustainable impact on the lives of Jordanians stemming from its societal role and its leading position by executing various free digital programs to empower Jordanians and enhance digital inclusion to affect the socio-economic development by focusing on 3-main pillars: digital education, digital inclusion, and entrepreneurship.

To learn more about us, please visit our website: www.orange.jo

About Orange

Orange is one of the world’s leading telecommunications operators with sales of 42.5 billion euros in 2021 and 140,000 employees worldwide at 31 December 2021, including 78,000 employees in France. The Group has a total customer base of 271 million customers worldwide at 31 December 2021, including 224 million mobile customers and 23 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 new "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.

Orange is listed on Euronext Paris (symbol ORA) and on the New York Stock Exchange (symbol ORAN).