Corinne Lozé has been the new Managing Director of Orange Luxembourg for the past year. From the group’s national headquarters in Bertrange, she manages 169 men and women, with almost equal numbers of men and women. Far from stereotypes, she prefers equality to feminism. Her goal? To bring Orange closer to startups, to satisfy a triple credo: observe, collaborate and move forward together.
by: Aurélie Mohr-Boob
photo: Orange
featured: Corinne Lozé
Listen to article (Part I)
An international appetite.
Corinne Lozé was almost professionally born with new technologies since she started working with the first internet related companies in 1995. “It was the beginning of the Internet in France, the pre-bubble in a way and I had done a course in this field. I worked for a few years in the Paris region.” Then she joined the telecoms world in 2000 as director of digital innovation.
Before taking up her position in Luxembourg, Corinne Lozé was Managing Director of Orange in the Central African Republic. An international career, a criterion that counts in what led her to work in telecoms: “Telecoms are a central service in our lives. It’s a dynamic sector that is constantly evolving. It’s exciting.”
On her desk there are three mobile phones, a laptop and a tablet, but beyond the ultra-technical connectivity, Corinne Lozé takes a wise look at social networks: “I love social networks, I follow the trends, but I don’t forget the human contact. I’m getting to know Luxembourg and I think that it doesn’t necessarily go through social media initially.”
“There is a problem of attractiveness and no doubt a lack of knowledge about the diversity and content offered by telecom operators’ professions.”
Telecoms, jobs of the future for women?
Telecom jobs can be very technical and have historically had few women- a gap the Orange Group decided to fill a few years ago. “There is a problem of attractiveness and no doubt a lack of knowledge about the diversity and content offered by telecom operators’ professions, so a lot of communication is needed to make them known.”
There are programmes created by the Orange Group and implemented locally in each country: interventions in schools, events on professions, the place of women in the company, women’s networks, but also men’s networks, so as not to fall into the opposite cliché. In Luxembourg, the Orange company is now fully equal within its management team and in terms of salaries. Orange Luxembourg is also GEEIS (Gender Equality European International Standard) certified, a pan-European and global certification that guarantees gender balance and access to all professions for employees with the necessary skills. Many countries where the Orange Group is present adhere to this standard.
Finally, in Luxembourg, the company is a member of the Actions Positives programme. The Actions Positives programme is a management approach in which an employer can adopt to achieving a more balanced representation of men and women through the workforce.
“The country has bet on AI and data storage and I think that we are in line with what is done by the institutions.”
Listen to article (Part II)
Welcome to the world of startups.
Since her arrival in Luxembourg, Corinne Lozé has said it several times: the country is very efficient when it comes to launching projects. This is particularly the case with the startup ecosystem: “I find that Luxembourg is extremely dynamic. There are many incubators, associations, networks, and events… We feel that there is a real willingness accompanied by means, which makes the projects come to form quickly.”
Orange Luxembourg wants to move in this direction: “The country has bet on AI and data storage and I think that we are in line with what is done by the institutions.” A first partnership has been established in 2019 with the Luxembourg startup EmailTree, which uses Artificial Intelligence to improve network maintenance services or the ability to extract information to better meet customer needs. A collaboration that will lead to others, notably as part of the Orange Fab program, which enables startups to test their technology with Orange, while being accompanied by the group. “Startups will be a major issue in 2020. I strongly encourage all departments to foster this kind of partnership. We will welcome them with great enthusiasm.”
“Equality also means not falling into male discrimination!”
Leading as a woman manager
Although launched into a technical and rather masculine world in the 90s and 2000s, Corinne Lozé says she has never had to endure the difficulties of being a woman manager. Misogyny? “Honestly I don’t think so if it was the case, I wouldn’t have seen it. However, managing to stay the course has not always been easy: You have to work hard, have strong convictions and above all always want to learn in order to be inspired and succeed.”
For her, what is important is to achieve a kind of harmony in the company, a state of mind where gender does not have a divisive role, but where “everyone does their best within their perimeter and avoids stereotypes. “Equality also means not falling into male discrimination! As for entrepreneurship, it’s the same struggle: Within a company, you can have an entrepreneurial profile. Decision-making, risk-taking and change is part of the corporate culture. At Orange, this is what we expect from our employees when we launch a project or a work unit”.
It’s clear that, as a woman of convictions, Corinne Lozé prefers inspiration to influence, in a proactive approach without necessarily following a model. “Charting your own course with benevolence is perhaps the key to success,” she articulates.
This article was first published in the Silicon Luxembourg magazine. Get a copy now!