Dr. Oscar Ondo

CEO, GITGE Telecommunication

Oscar Ondo is a trained Electronic Engineer, an entrepreneur and a revered thought leader in the African tech space. He currently serves as the Director-General of GITGE, Equatorial Guineas state-owned Telecommunication Infrastructure Operator.

He is extremely passionate about the promotion of the ICT industry in Sub Saharan Africa and works with the public and private sector to improve access to internet and communications in rural and low-income urban areas and promote economic diversification throughout the ICT sector.

Oscar has a BEng in Electronic Engineering and an MSc in Modern Communication technologies with Business Management, both from the University of Sussex, United Kingdom. After years of study in the UK, he moved back to his home country of Equatorial Guinea, with a vision to make EG the entry point in Africa for multinational companies wishing to invest in technology and in less than 5 years, the vision is almost fully realized.

Oscar is leading a digital revolution across EG, as the founder of TEG Campus, a 5-day youth-focused CSR tech event, where attendees can participate in tech contests, workshops and engage with the main players in the ICT sector in Africa. TEG Campus is aimed at building a bridge between the young talents and the corporate sector, as well as fostering the diversification of the economy through the tech sector. He will also launch a foundation and an Incubator center in late 2019, where he hopes to support and invest in the best ideas and talents he's come across since he decided to take over the reins of the sector in EG and West Africa.

Under his stewardship at GITGE, the country has seen astronomical leaps in its technology access, with the connection of Equatorial Guinea to the world through fibre optic technology, with the ACE cable that originates from France and passes through the coast of Africa, to Malabo, and then on to South Africa. The Ultramar GE cable, an extension of ACE which links the island of Annobon to Sao Tome, the Ceiba-1 and Ceiba-2 cables and the South Atlantic Inter Link (SAIL) submarine fibre optic cable, which will connect South America with Africa.

Through all these ambitious projects, internet access is being gradually provided to all and the next plan it to make the cost of telecommunications get drastically reduced.

He has been featured in Forbes Africa and has written several articles on his achievements and vision for the tech sector in Africa. He has taken this vision to several international stages globally to show the world EGs tech capability, most recently with an exhibition stand at the just concluded AfricaCom Conference & Exhibition in Cape Town, South Africa, Capacity LATAM in Sao Paulo, Brasil and will be at the ITU World Telecom 2019 in Budapest, Hungary. He will also deliver the keynote address at West Africa foremost tech event, Mobex Africa ICT Conferences & Expo19 and receive the Mobex Africa Innovation Personality Award in Accra, Ghana.

He has ambitious plans for the future and is the acknowledged sector pioneer tasked with advancing digital transformation in Africa.