ONLYOFFICE (Ascensio Systems Pte. Ltd.), a proven innovator in the online office business, participates in GITEX Africa from May 29 till May 31, 2024. The GITEX Africa event (www.GITEXAfrica.com) is a spotlight on the collective technological progress of the entire African continent, highlighting its limitless potential, latent digital opportunities and rising talents.

ONLYOFFICE presents its ecosystem of innovative office apps — online editors for text documents, spreadsheets, presentations, forms, and PDFs, as well as a room-based collaborative platform. The ONLYOFFICE solutions can be deployed on any device and platform, including Windows, Linux, macOS, Android, iOS.

The mission of ONLYOFFICE is to bring reliable web office apps to everyone. The developers make the apps accessible to as many users all over the world as possible. Currently, the ONLYOFFICE interface is translated in more than 25 languages, the editors support various types of text writing, including bidirectional text and RTL.

The up-to-date technology stack of ONLYOFFICE allows implementing the latest technologies, such as AI. Users are able to use the ChatGPT and ZhiPu Copilot assistants directly in the editors to generate texts, code, images and keywords, summarize, translate, fix grammar and spelling, and more.

Step into the future of technology and innovation with ONLYOFFICE at GITEX Africa 2024. Visit booth 2A-8 to discover the advanced office applications which can be seamlessly incorporated into any existing corporate infrastructure. Take a chance to see a live demo and meet ONLYOFFICE representatives on site.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of GITEX Africa.

About ONLYOFFICE:
ONLYOFFICE, an open-source office software project, focuses on advanced and secure office solutions. With over 10 million users worldwide, it is recognized for its innovation in the online office domain. As an international company, ONLYOFFICE has employees and contributors across the globe, with offices located in Singapore, Dallas, Riga, London, Belgrade, Yerevan, and Tashkent. For more information, visit www.ONLYOFFICE.com.

American Express and Ecobank Group (www.Ecobank.com), the leading pan-African financial services Group, announced an agreement to significantly expand American Express Card acceptance in twenty-one countries across Africa.

Through this agreement, American Express Card Members will be able to use their Cards in twelve new countries: Burundi, Central African Republic, Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Niger, São Tomé and Príncipe, Sierra Leone, The Gambia, and Togo. Additionally, the number of merchants accepting American Express Card payments will increase in nine further countries where American Express acceptance already exists: Cape Verde, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Nigeria, the Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda.Acceptance in these countries will be rolled out over the next 12 months.Ecobank will also provide ATM acceptance for American Express in all countries where they operate in Africa (with the exception of Cape Verde).

The agreement, which was announced at the African Development Bank Group Annual Meetings 2024, will strengthen the American Express global network by increasing the number of locations where American Express Card Members can use their Cards in Sub-Saharan Africa. The agreement will also enable merchants to attract business from a new customer base of American Express consumer, business and corporate Card Members in Africa and around the world.

“We are delighted to welcome American Express to our network, reinforcing our commitment to offering innovative payments solutions for customers across Africa,” said Jeremy Awori, CEO of Ecobank Group. “This agreement will benefit American Express Card Members, providing them with greater choice and will help merchants to grow their businesses. It also highlights the scalability of Ecobank’s unrivalled borderless banking ecosystem and network across Africa.”

Mohammed Badi, President of Global Network Services at American Express, commented: “This agreement with Ecobank is a major milestone for American Express acceptance across Africa as it will expand our presence in sub-Saharan Africa to 42 countries from 30 at present. With Ecobank’s support, we look forward to providing merchants in these countries access to higher-spending American Express Card Members both in Africa and from around the world.” 

This collaboration aligns with Ecobank’s Growth, Transformation and Returns strategic agenda. Ecobank is committed to offering its retail customers innovative and easy-to-use financial solutions through its unified banking platform across Africa.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Ecobank Transnational Incorporated.

Media Contacts:
For Ecobank Transnational Incorporated
Christiane Mbimbe Bossom
Phone:  +228 22 21 03 03
E-mail: groupcorporatecomms@ecobank.com

About Ecobank Transnational Incorporated: 
Ecobank Group is the private pan-African financial services group with unrivalled African expertise. Present in 35 sub-Saharan African countries, as well as France, UK, UAE and China, its pan-African platform provides a single gateway for payments, cash management, trade and investments. The Group employs over 15,000 people and offers Consumer, Commercial, Corporate and Investment Banking products, services and solutions across multiple channels including digital, to over 32 million customers. For further information, visit www.Ecobank.com

About American Express:
American Express is a globally integrated payments company, providing customers with access to products, insights and experiences that enrich lives and build business success. Learn more at www.AmericanExpress.com and connect with us on https://apo-opa.co/3Vjk3MB, https://apo-opa.co/3X033wr, https://apo-opa.co/455QBgr, https://apo-opa.co/3Vnlzh6, and https://apo-opa.co/4540VWb.

Key links to products, services and corporate sustainability information: personal cards (https://apo-opa.co/4bzIYBj), business cards and services (https://apo-opa.co/4dYruQQ), travel services (https://apo-opa.co/4dRKtMO), gift cards (https://apo-opa.co/3VjkDtL), prepaid cards (https://apo-opa.co/3V00pEb), merchant services (https://apo-opa.co/4bUStuB), Business Blueprint (https://apo-opa.co/3yCrPZb), Resy (https://apo-opa.co/4bWB3hn), corporate card (https://apo-opa.co/4e0CCfZ), business travel (https://apo-opa.co/44XCLNj), diversity and inclusion (https://apo-opa.co/3R4lI6s), corporate sustainability (https://apo-opa.co/4bTI5Dx) and Environmental, Social, and Governance reports (https://apo-opa.co/4bTI5Dx).

American Express in Africa: 
American Express products have been in Africa for over 50 years, and its presence in the region continues to expand. American Express consumer Cards and corporate Cards/solutions are issued in more than 40 countries across the region through its joint venture American Express Middle East (AEME), license agreements with financial institutions, and direct issuance of Global Dollar Cards. Through its licensees and AEME, American Express is committed to expanding the number of places where local Cardmembers, international travelers, and local and international businesses can use their American Express Cards for daily spending, business, or tourism in the region.

Elm (www.Elm.sa), a leading digital solutions provider, is showcasing its advanced solutions at GITEX Africa 2024. These solutions are developed to serve a wide range of requirements in global markets. Organised under the auspices of the Ministry of Digital Transition and Administrative Reform, in collaboration with the Agency for Digital Development in Morocco, the exhibition is taking place from May 29 to 31, 2024, in Marrakesh, Morocco. It is regarded as the premier technology event of its kind in Africa.

The exhibition convenes industry leaders, representatives from governments, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and startups, programmers, investors and academics. GITEX Africa 2024 offers a dynamic platform for participants to showcase cutting-edge innovations and developments within the sector while building their network with investors, incubators, financial institutions and technology companies worldwide. Furthermore, the event serves as a forum to discuss key topics related to surrounding digital transformation, collaborations, and relationship building.

During the event, Elm is showcasing a range of solutions that cover various sectors including the justice system, digital archiving, healthcare system, digital identifiers, logistics, transportation, smart cities and port management. Elm’s lineup reflects its vital role in propelling digital transformation across different industries, further bolstering economic development and elevating service quality.

Elm provides a variety of services within the justice system, one of which is the development of a smart model that aids in judicial decisions and procedures. Additionally, the company has established the ‘Najiz Judicial Services Center’, which offers a complete spectrum of judicial services to companies and individuals. The Centre provides a one-stop solution that has marked an impressive record of more than 525,000 operations. Elm has further developed the ‘Khibrah’ platform that acts as a connection point for leveraging specialised expertise across various fields. The platform has a database of over five thousand registered experts. Furthermore, the company also launched a platform exclusively to facilitate dispute resolution, offering arbitration, conciliation and mediation services, outside conventional judiciary systems.

Within the field of digital archiving, Elm is showcasing its wide array of solutions that cover different aspects including the conversion of documents into digital format, management and storage of these documents, processing of damaged files, secure document destruction and mobile archiving. Additionally, Elm underscores the significance of digitising real estate documents by transferring paper-based documents to central digitisation laboratories for digital archiving and storage. The company has digitised over 200 million documents, which ensures its long-term accessibility and protection.

Additionally, the company is concentrating on the development of smart cities as the next stage in urban development. In line with its goals, Elm is currently working to transform Saudi Arabia into a smart city that exceeds global standards by integrating a range of innovative solutions. During the exhibition, the company is showcasing its smart control solutions, which harness the prospects of smart vehicle technology for quality and control of traffic and improving the compliance rates. Furthermore, the company is highlighting its smart city platform, that efficiently manages monitoring and control processes, waste management and electronic tracking of contractors and service agencies. Elm is further exhibiting its Digital Twin platform that employs 3D cloud maps to offer a precise representation of the building environment and its structure. The platform allows capturing automated changes, collecting and processing data and facilitating self-navigation of buildings and construction. Apart from construction, it also has diverse applications across multiple sectors such as tourism, inspection, entertainment and metaverse technology.

With over 35 years of experience, Elm, a renowned digital solutions provider, has positioned itself as an industry leader. It provides comprehensive consulting services and innovative digital solutions to both public and private organisations. Elm’s consulting services encompass a broad range of digital fields, including operational services based on the private sector model and business outsourcing solutions. The company also manages the implementation of digital projects. In line with this goal, the company operates through a number of specialised business units, which are committed to providing services that are of the highest standard and professionalism.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Elm.

For further information, please contact:
Orient Planet Group (OPG)
Tel:  +971 4 4562888
Email: media@orientplanet.com
Website: www.OrientPlanet.com

With the first AWS Wavelength Zones in Morocco and Senegal, customers can build applications using AWS services installed within Orange’s network (https://www.Orange.com) to securely process and store data locally and deliver low-latency user experiences. Organizations in the public and private sector will be able to leverage AWS Wavelength infrastructure and services to take advantage of the security, scalability, and reliability of AWS.

Today, Orange Middle East&Africa (OMEA) and Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS), announced plans to bring AWS Wavelength to Morocco and Senegal later this year, enabling startups, enterprises, and public organizations to securely process and store data locally, leverage AWS services for digital transformation, and build low-latency applications. These are the first AWS Wavelength Zones directly accessible both through wireless and wireline (internet) connections, allowing any customer to deploy and run applications locally on AWS compute and storage located in Orange data centers. AWS Wavelength enables developers to support use cases across high-trust, regulated industries that require data to remain local, such as telecom, finance, public sector, and healthcare, as well as industries that depend on low-latency applications like gaming. Because AWS Wavelength Zones extend AWS services locally, customers can seamlessly connect back to the rest of their applications and the full range of cloud services running in an AWS Region, leveraging the security, scalability, and reliability of AWS.

There is strong demand for cloud services in Africa, with its Infrastructure as a Service&Platform as a Service industries expected to grow by 18% on a yearly basis to reach $13 billion in 20281. According to McKinsey, early indications show that Africa is embracing cloud services, and there are no signs of slowing down2. The new AWS Wavelength Zones will allow customers to take advantage of cloud services and help meet compliance requirements for applications requiring locally-hosted data.

Orange is one of the world’s leading telecommunications operators with a total customer base of 298 million worldwide and a presence in 26 countries, including 18 in Africa and the Middle East. As an AWS Advanced Tier Services Partner, Orange has a strong track record of supporting enterprises on their cloud journeys and will leverage the new local infrastructure capabilities, as well as existing AWS Regions, to foster cloud adoption in Africa. Orange will also be an anchor customer for the AWS Wavelength Zones, running some of its IT workloads in country and helping to accelerate the digital transformation of the company.

Jérôme Hénique, CEO at Orange Middle East and Africa said, “The announcement of AWS Wavelength Zones for North&West Africa is a major achievement in our strategy to foster the cloud transformation of African businesses. We are providing the benefits of AWS to Moroccan and Senegalese organizations, from SMBs to MNCs, while ensuring data residency in secure Orange Datacenters in combination with our best-in-class connectivity solutions.”

Historically, AWS Wavelength Zones have existed in countries with AWS Regions. Today’s announcement showcases a new and evolved AWS Wavelength Zone design to help meet the needs of customers in these emerging geographies, providing the key benefit of bringing AWS services into countries without an AWS Region or AWS Local Zone. Customers can deploy their applications to AWS compute and storage located within Orange’s data centers in Morocco and Senegal, so application traffic only needs to travel from the device to the local AWS Wavelength Zone either via Orange’s network or the network of another mobile or internet service provider. With the new design, customers can deploy applications with low latency and granular data residency controls, providing further choice to help customers address stringent data residency requirements, such as in-country for regulatory, contractual, or security reasons. The work together will also strengthen local digital businesses and startups, by encouraging innovation and offering simplified access to cloud services and development tools.

“The deployment of AWS Wavelength Zones in North and West Africa, in collaboration with Orange, will further empower customers in growing geographies with local AWS services,” said Jan Hofmeyr, vice president of EC2 Edge at AWS. “Customers of all sizes and all industries in Morocco and Senegal will be able to access local AWS compute and storage for data residency, low latency, and security needs for applications across real-time gaming and regulated industries, helping customers unlock new innovation and accelerate digital transformation.”

AWS is the most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud, offering more services than any other cloud provider with the most proven operational and security expertise. AWS Wavelength Zones will run a broad range of AWS services, including Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2), Amazon Elastic Block Store (Amazon EBS), Amazon Elastic Container Service (Amazon ECS), Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Services (Amazon EKS), Amazon CloudWatch, Amazon EMR, and Application Load Balancer as part of Elastic Load Balancing (ELB). With AWS Wavelength, customers can use the same AWS APIs, tools, and functionality they are familiar with to build their applications.

Swarmio is a telco-grade gaming technology provider that offers unparalleled solutions that elevate the gaming experience and drive revenue for both telcos and game publishers. “There is a dynamic and growing gamer community in Africa, including Morocco and Senegal, and we want to provide them with advanced gaming experiences but run into technical hurdles involving locally available cloud services,” said Vijai Karthigesu, CEO and Founder of Swarmio. “AWS Wavelength will help us transform the worldwide gaming landscape by combining the power of AWS with our Swarmio Edge platform to provide an unmatched, low-latency experience that allows creators to connect and delights global game publishers and developers.”

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Orange Middle East and Africa.

Press contacts:
Stella Fumey 
stella.fumey@orange.com

About Orange Middle-East and Africa (OMEA):
Orange is present in 18 countries in Africa and the Middle East and has 153 million customers at 31 March 2024. With 7.1 billion euros of revenues in 2023, Orange MEA is the first growth area in the Orange group. Orange Money, its flagship mobile-based money transfer and financial services offer is available in 17 countries and has more than 90 million customers. Orange, multi-services operator, key partner of the digital transformation provides its expertise to support the development of new digital services in Africa and the Middle East.