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By Fatmata Bundu
(Source- SALONE TIMES) – Orange Sierra Leone has launched its 5th edition of the Orange Social Venture Prize (OSVP) in which the 13th edition in Africa and the Middle East to support social innovation and encourage local entrepreneurship.
The 5th Edition of the Orange Social Venture Prize completion in Sierra Leone and the 13th edition in Africa and the Middle East would be officially opened for submissions of applications on Monday, 13thMarch 2023.
The applicants from the 17 Orange Affiliates in Africa and Middle East including Sierra Leone, must apply for both the Notional and International competition and should submit their applications on or before 21st May 2023 at the following websites: National (http://osvpsl2023.innosl.com) and International (https://poesam.orange.com) .
In his statement, the Head of Public Relations and Corporate Social Responsibility, Kamal Omar Sheriff Abass said Orange was positioned to be led digital partners for startups in Africa and the Middle East, adding that, as the reason, Orange Middle East and Africa (OMEA) initiated OSVP 13 years ago to reward the best technological projects with positive impact and solutions to social challenges mainly in the fields of education, health, agriculture, mobile payments or sustainable development in Africa and the Middle East.
He however noted that, the competition was organized annually in all 17 Orange affiliates in OMEA and that the three winners from each of the 17 countries emerged as the winner, but that the international winner bags a whooping sum of 25 thousand Euros.
He maintained that Orange Sierra Leone commenced the OSVP competition in the country since 2019, three years after joining the OMEA family.
“We have successfully held four national OSVP competitions in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 respectively,” he stated.
According to him, last year, they accelerated the OSVP competition through the support of their partner, Innovation Sierra Leone to bring more meaning to the innovation axis and increase empowerment for young startups/innovators entrepreneurs in the country.
Mr. Abass furthered that out of a total of 128 applicants; Usman Yaah of Auto Smart Irrigation and Energy emerged as the Winner for the national contest in 2022 and won a grand prize of 100 million Leones.
He noted that Joseph David Koroma emerged as the OSVP International Grand Prize winner for Sierra Leone out of 17 Orange Affiliates and won the grand prize of 25 thousand Euros.
He noted that through this prize, Orange Sierra Leone has committed operator, aimed at contributing to the socio-economic development, supporting local and environmental innovations, and encourage entrepreneurship in the country.
He stated that application would be collected from the 13th march to 21st May 2023 for the National and Women’s competition. At the end of this application phase, MR. Bass continued, a jury made up of representatives of the Orange’s start-up ecosystem would meet to select the 3 national winners and the Women’s Noble winner and that the winners would receive the following prizes: thus NLe100, 000-National Winner NeLe50,000-Women’s Winner and the international stage: the 3 winners from each subsidiary in the 17 Orange Affiliated in Africa and Middle East would be automatically selected for the international phase and would be evaluated by an evaluation committee made up of Group of Employees, after evaluation, they would select 10 finalists.
He added that a final jury of African tech influencers will select the top 3 winners of the OSVP International Grand Prize in October/November 2023 and that the winners of the international competition would receive the following prize € 25,000 for 1st place; €15,000 for 2nd place and €10,000 for 3rd place.
As equal opportunities are a key aspect of Orange Policy, the international Women’s prize will also be awarded for the fourth consecutive year. This will be awarded to a woman who offers a technological solution to Improve the living condition of women (women’s independence, job creation or preservation, gender data collection, digital and financial inclusion, etc.) The winner will receive €20,000
They assured that as equal opportunities are a key aspect of their policy, the International Women’s prize will also be awarded for the fourth consecutive year. This prize will be awarded to a woman who offers a technological solution to improve the living conditions of women (women’s independence, job creation or preservation, gender data collection, digital and financial inclusion as the grand winner would receive €20.000
He concluded that since the launch of the OSVP in 2019, Orange Sierra Leone was proud to have awarded around NLe515, 000 in prize money to winners of both the National and women’s competition and that OMEA was proud to have also awarded.
The Founder of Life Blood, Joseph David Koroma commended Orange Sierra Leone for supporting innovators and local entrepreneurs after highlighting the process of the OSVP as one of the winners of grand prize.
He said the win of last year was not just an amazing triumph for the organization (Life Blood), it was a win for their entire entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystem- which he would add to its infancy stage and look what they have already done.
Joseph noted that the OSVP had become more than a competition, adding that it was now a critical component of their entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystem of Orange Sierra Leone from an infrastructure role in their ecosystem which was now a leader in the Human Capital component of ecosystem (through the ODC).
According to Joseph, the transformational leadership, a digital infrastructure and ecosystem were not possible without the development of digital skills whilst thanking Orange to partner and created the platform for them.
He informed that for the first time in 2022, with 252 applications nationally, Sierra Leone made it to the international competition and ultimately won the international prize with the project “life blood,” which happened to be the 12th edition of Middle East and Africa, saying that he was honored to be there on behalf of their CEO of Innovation SL, the OSVP implementing partners for over 4 years, Mr. Francis Stevens George.
He narrated that the win of last year was not just an amazing triumph for Joseph David Koroma-life Blood it was a win for our entire entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystem.
Another Orange partner, Lamrana Bah said for the first time in 2022, they had 252 applications nationally which enable Sierra Leone made it to the international competition and ultimately won the international prize with the project “life blood,” which happened to be the 12th edition of middle east. She said, last year, she sat there and made a promise in 2022, promising that an entrepreneur from the SL OSVP edition would win the grand final and the team led at the time by the former Manager Foday Kamara, who gave a clear instructions to be very international in their publicity and engagement campaign because orange wanted a winner and they we were going to give them a winner.
