MONROVIA – The 4th of March is the start of the registration of the 9th edition of the Orange Social Venture Prize in Africa and the Middle East. Until May 30, 2019, candidates have the opportunity to propose their project in the category “Orange Social Venture Prize” on http://entrepreneurclub.orange.com/en/.
This prize, awarded by Orange, rewards innovative projects based on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) which improve the living conditions of people in Africa and the Middle East in fields such as education, healthcare, farming, mobile payments or sustainable development.
The competition will start with a national phase, during which each of the 18 participating Orange subsidiaries will assess the projects submitted in its country and select 3 winners. In addition to the global prize money, Orange Liberia will provide additional prizes for applicants from Liberia. The Liberian based first prize finalist will receive US$3,000, second prize finalist will receive US$2,000 and the third finalist will receive US$1,500. A fourth prize of US$500 will be provided to the Liberian entry which wins the online popular vote. All Liberian finalists will receive their prize money by Orange Money.
This will be followed by an international phase, during which all 54 national winners will compete for an international jury which will present the Orange Social Venture Prize grand prize to the three final winners at the AfricaCom in Cape Town, South Africa in November.
Like our three winners of the 2018 edition: OKO (Mali), ISAHIT (Côte d’Ivoire) and AnemiApp (Democratic Republic of Congo); the three international winners will receive, in addition to the national prizes, respectively € 25,000, € 15,000 and € 10,000.
1304 files were received in 2018 and of these, 10 benefited from personalized support by Orange and its partner, the start-up incubator Bond’Innov. In 2019, 10 other international finalists will also have the opportunity to have support from professionals in the creation and financing of young companies.
The Orange Social Venture Prize is open to all students, employees and entrepreneurs over age 21 whose initiative is under three years old and serves Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Guinea Bissau, Guinea Conakry, Jordan, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali, Morocco, Niger, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of Sierra Leone, Senegal, Tunisia. Since 2011, the Orange Social Venture Prize is part of a logic of detection of young talents, at the heart of Orange’s strategy.