[Digital Business Africa] – Orange has launched the 14th edition of the Orange Social Venture Prize in Africa and the Middle East (OSVP) to support social innovation and encourage entrepreneurship.
The 14th Orange Social Venture Prize in Africa and the Middle East has opened for submissions on Monday, March 18, 2024. Candidates from the 17 countries within the Orange footprint have until May 26, 2024, to submit their project on the website “https://www.orange.com/en/osvp“.
Since 2011, the OSVP prize has been rewarding innovative start-up projects that use and develop new technologies to positively impact Africa and the Middle East in fields such as education, healthcare, e-commerce, agriculture, and the environment. Through this prize, Orange, as a committed operator, aims to contribute to socio-economic development, support social and environmental innovation, and encourage entrepreneurship.
There are two stages to the competition:
A national stage to collect applications between March and May 2024 at Orange’s 17 subsidiaries, Cameroon included. When this stage is complete, a jury with representatives from Orange’s local start-up ecosystem will meet in each subsidiary to choose 3 national winners (per subsidiary) who will automatically qualify for the second phase of the competition, the international stage.
The winners will be awarded:
- CFA F 2 000 000 for 1st place;
- CFA F 1 000 000 for 2nd place;
- CFA F 500 000 for 3rd place;
- and CFA F 1 000 000 for the National Women Prize.
An international stage, where each subsidiary will be represented by the projects of its three winners and the projects competing for the Inter-National Women’s Prize. The projects will be evaluated by an evaluation committee made up of group employees. After their evaluation, 10 finalists will be chosen for the International Grand Prize and 5 for the International Women’s Prize.
A final jury made up of leading figures from the worlds of tech and entrepreneurship in Africa and the Middle East will then be responsible, in October 2024, for choosing the three winners of the International Grand Prize and the winner of the OSVP International Women’s Prize from among the 15 projects selected by Orange Group employees.
The winners will be awarded:
- €25,000 (CFA F 16,000,000) for the 1st prize-winner;
- €15,000 (CFA F 9,000,000) for the 2nd prize-winner;
- €10,000 (CFA F 6,000,000) for the 3rd prize-winner;
- €20,000 (CFA F 13,000,000) for the International Women’s Prize winner.
Since the launch of OSVP in 2011, Orange has received more than 13,000 applications, is proud to have awarded around €700,000 in prize money to over fifty winners, and has provided capacity-building support to around one hundred entrepreneurs. In addition to financial support, the OSVP winners will receive support from Orange Digital Centers in their respective countries.
The application deadline for POESAM is Sunday, May 26, 2024.
About Orange Middle East and Africa (OMEA):
Orange is present in 18 countries in Africa and the Middle East and had 149 million customers as of December 31, 2023. With 7.1 billion euros of revenues in 2023, Orange MEA is the first growth area in the Orange group. Orange Money, its flagship mobile-based money transfer and financial services offer, is available in 17 countries and has more than 90 million customers. Orange, a multi-services operator and key partner in digital transformation provides its expertise to support the development of new digital services in Africa and the Middle East.
About Orange Digital Centers :
The Orange Digital Centers are a real crossroads of opportunities, bringing together in the same space a School of Code, a Solidarity FabLab, a digital manufacturing workshop that enables projects to be prototyped and learn by doing, an Orange Fab, a start-up accelerator that supports young start-ups and enables them to develop national and international business partnerships with one or more Group entities, and Orange Ventures Africa & Middle East, a €50 million investment fund that finances innovative start-ups.
Press Contacts: Orange Cameroon :
Stephane MOUKOURI: [email protected]; +237 699949183
Erika Wilson: [email protected]; +237 699949754
Source: Orange Cameroun, Douala, May 13, 2024
