• Togolese expert Radia Ouro-Gbele leads Paris-based OG IT Consulting with operations in Africa.
• Her firm trained 500+ young Africans in cybersecurity for global companies.
• She aims to make Africa a global cybersecurity hub within 15 years.

Radia Ouro-Gbele, a Togolese cybersecurity specialist, has built her career working with global companies in energy, nuclear and industrial sectors, designing identity and access management (IAM & PAM) systems and leading large-scale cybersecurity projects.

She is the founder and president of OG IT Consulting, a Paris-based cybersecurity advisory and integration firm launched in 2021 with operations across Africa. The firm provides audits, identity and privileged access management services, as well as executive training. It also runs awareness and skills-building programs, training more than 500 young Africans who have since joined international firms.

Ouro-Gbele told We Are Tech Africa that the venture stemmed from a desire to protect the continent’s digital assets after hearing the struggles of an African executive. Her mission, she said, is to “protect Africa, by Africans and for Africans” through local structures and workforce development.

She has set a long-term target of making Africa a global hub for cybersecurity expertise within 10 to 15 years, envisioning a “cyber Silicon Valley” capable of securing organizations in North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

Ouro-Gbele holds a telecommunications diploma from the École supérieure multinationale des télécommunications (ESMT) in Dakar, and a master’s degree in information systems security from the Université de technologie de Troyes in France. Her career began at Togocom in 2013, followed by a stint at ASECNA in Senegal. She later joined Accenture France as a cybersecurity consultant and worked as a cybersecurity project manager at Thales from 2021 to 2023.

This article was initially published in French by Melchior Koba

Adapted in English by Ange Jason Quenum