SES Chairs Roundtable Discussion as it Looks to Strengthen Education in Africa

Luxembourg, 31 March 2014 - SES (NYSE Euronext Paris and Luxembourg Stock Exchange: SESG) will today chair a roundtable discussion during the fifth EU-Africa Business Forum in Brussels as it looks to strengthen education in Africa through the use of its satellite services.

The roundtable, set to be attended by high level politicians and leaders from Africa and Europe, as well as representatives from the private sector, will focus on ICT in education. Titled, Creating partnerships to bring e-schools to rural Africa: Offering incubator-backed seed and early stage funding, it will take place on the first day of the EU-Africa Business Forum, which is being held on Monday, March 31 and Tuesday, April 1.

The panel, led by Christine Leurquin, VP, Institutional Relations, SES, will discuss how a lack of connectivity in Africa remains a key bottleneck to development and explore how ICT technologies, such as satellite broadband, can offer significant advantages for connecting the African continent to the rest of the world and improving its socio-economic development.

“Addressing the challenge of quality basic education for all children and adults is a key priority for the international donor community,” said Leurquin. “Large-scale deployment of ICT and technology-driven solutions in education, including the use of satellite, can help the government to improve academic performance through teacher’s education and accelerate the goal of “Education for All”.

The objective of e-schools is to introduce new and better learning forms based on ICT and connectivity to enrich content. It is technically feasible today to digitally connect all the schools in Africa using a mix of technologies, in particular satellite. According to the McKinsey 2012 Report titled Lions go digital: The Internet’s transformative potential in Africa, this is a very worthwhile activity as it could result in savings of between $30 billion and almost $70 billion in education, enabling governments to do more with their budgets.

The fifth EU-Africa Business Forum aims to engage the private sector in sustainable and inclusive growth. The roundtable chaired by SES is one of 12 with a variety of topics being covered, including sustainable energy, agribusiness, infrastructure and SME financing.

For more information see http://www.euafrica-businessforum.eu

Markus Payer
SES Communications
Tel: +352 710 725 500
[email protected]