Deadline: 5 June 2020
The Orange MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA company, a société anonyme (public limited company) is organising a competition entitled “Orange Social Venture Prize” (hereinafter the “Competition”).
Having become a benchmark contest, the Orange Social Venture Prize in Africa and the Middle East (POESAM) is celebrating its 10th anniversary. Every year, it rewards the best technological projects with a positive impact in Africa and the Middle East.
The Orange Group proactively supports social business initiatives associating New Information and Communications Technologies in Africa and the Middle East. As such, since 2011, the Orange Group has run a “social venture” competition, which rewards Projects that launch a new product or a new service which meets the triple objective of: contributing to societal development, developing an innovative offering and integrating digital technologies in the entrepreneurial solution.
The competition is organised in two stages: first a national competition in 17 countries; then an international jury chooses the Grand Prix winners. To mark its 10th anniversary, Orange will reward even more start-ups, with the launch of the international women’s prize worth €20,000 and the addition of a “special prize” worth €10,000 specific to this edition. A total of 5 prizes will therefore be awarded by the international Grand Prix jury.
In addition to an award of up to €25,000, the Grand Prix winners benefit from personalised support from Orange experts, and high media coverage of their project on the continent and beyond.
The Orange Social Venture Prize rewards projects or start-ups created less than three years ago that offer high-tech solutions based on mobiles or the Internet to meet the needs of the populations in Africa and the Middle-East. The Award embodies the Group’s values and commitments in the MEA region.
Award Information
For the international Grand-Prix awards are the following:
- 1st prize: the payment of an amount of €25,000 (twenty-five thousand euros).
- 2nd prize: the payment of an amount of €15,000 (fifteen thousand euros).
- 3rd prize: the payment of an amount of €10,000 (ten thousand euros).
- One women award: the payment of an amount of € 20,000 (twenty thousand euros).
- One 10th year special award: the payment of an amount of 10,000 (ten thousand euros).
Eligibility Criteria
- Entrepreneurs over the age of 21 and start-ups operating for less than three years can qualify for the Prize.
- There are no nationality requirements.
- The projects must be implemented in one of the following countries in which Orange operates in Africa and the Middle-East.
- The eligible countries are: Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Guinea Bissau, Guinea Conakry, Jordan, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali, Morocco, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Tunisia.
Award Criteria
The Organising Company will do its utmost to Pre-select Projects “the Pre-selection” according to the following criteria such as:
- The social and/or environmental impact; the Projects will be evaluated according to the significance of their social and/or environmental impact (number of jobs created, effects on health, education, energy needs, etc.);
- The degree of innovation provided in the use of digital communications resources (landline or mobile telecommunications) to enable the product or service to be launched;
- The possibility of extending distribution of the product to several countries;
- The financial viability of the project by succeeding in self-financing the project at the end of its launch period;
- The realistic and operational character of the project (motivation of the team, contacts with the partners of the project, etc.);
- The presentation and feasibility of the Project as a whole (test phase and operational phase planned).
For more information, visit https://startup.orange.com/en/orange-social-venture-prize/