• Mobile phones now handle sales, payments, and logistics for thousands of small businesses
• Orange launches Mobile Pro to serve firms with fewer than 10 employees
• The offer reflects the growing weight of informal, mobile-based commerce

In Abidjan, business often happens on a screen. Orders come through WhatsApp, products are displayed on Facebook, payments are confirmed by mobile money, and deliveries are coordinated in real time. For many small operators, the smartphone is not just a tool. It is where the business lives.

Orange Côte d’Ivoire is building on that reality with Mobile Pro, a new offer designed for businesses with one to nine employees. The company is targeting a segment that sits between personal use and formal corporate needs, without the structure or resources of larger firms.

The service is built around prepaid plans that can be activated through an app or USSD code. It includes unlimited calls across networks, access to selected social platforms, and data for broader internet use. One of its core features allows several lines to be linked to a main account, creating a shared communication system.

An offer built for the backbone of the economy

The logic behind the product reflects the structure of the Ivorian economy. In 2024, the country had just over 82,000 formal businesses, according to official data, with more than 95% classified as small and medium-size enterprises.

That figure only tells part of the story. The informal sector still accounts for about 60% of economic activity. Much of the country’s trade, services, and job creation depends on small, loosely organized businesses that rely heavily on mobile phones to operate.

Mobile Pro targets this space directly. It is designed for shop owners, food vendors, delivery workers, online sellers, and service providers who do not use formal systems but already manage their activity through a smartphone.

A shared tool for running small operations

These businesses rarely operate alone. A typical setup may involve a vendor handling customers, a relative managing deliveries, and another person sourcing goods. Communication between them is constant and often informal.

By allowing multiple users to connect under one main line and share data, the offer brings a level of coordination usually found in more structured companies. It helps streamline everyday tasks, whether confirming a delivery, sending product images, responding to customers, or checking availability.

For these businesses, telecom spending is not optional. It is part of the operating cost, directly tied to revenue.

From informal activity to structured business

The rise of mobile-based commerce is reshaping how small businesses operate in Côte d’Ivoire. Social media and messaging platforms have become storefronts for sellers who do not have physical locations or websites. Transactions are often negotiated and completed entirely through a phone.

Mobile Pro fits into this shift. It does not just provide connectivity. It supports a gradual move toward more organized business practices, where communication, sales, and logistics become more structured.

In an economy where small firms dominate the formal sector and informal activity remains widespread, the smartphone is no longer just a communication device. For a growing number of entrepreneurs, it is already the main place where business happens.

Moutiou Adjibi Nourou