Leading Sierra Leone Telecommunications Company, Orange,  has launched the 5th edition of the Orange Social Venture Prize in Sierra  Leone and 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 competition in Sierra Leone is officially open for submissions of applications on Monday, March 13, 2023.

Applicants from the 17 Orange Affiliates in Africa and Middle East including Sierra Leone are to apply for both the National and International competition and are to submit their applications on or before 21st May 2023 at the following website links: National: http://osvpsl2023.innosl.com International: https://poesam.orange.com.

Since 2019, the OSVP prize has been awarded to innovative projects by start-ups, based on information and communication technologies that have a positive social impact in Africa and the Middle East in the fields of education, healthcare, e-commerce, and agriculture, or that contribute to achieving sustainable development goals.

Through this prize, Orange Sierra Leone, as a committed operator, aims to contribute to the socio-economic development, support local, social and environmental innovations, and encourage entrepreneurship in Sierra Leone.

The competition occurs in two stages: The National stage and the International stage. At the National, applications will be collected from the 13th March to 21ST May 2023 for the National and Women’s competition and at the end of this application phase, a jury made up of representatives  of the Orange’s start-up ecosystem will meet to select the 3 national winners and the Women’s Noble winner.

The winners will receive whooping amounts; NLe 100,000 for National Winner and NLe 50,000 for Women’s Winner

At the international stage, the 3 winners from each subsidiary in the 17 Orange Affiliates in Africa and Middle East will be automatically selected for the international phase and will be evaluated by an evaluation committee made up of Group employees. After their evaluation, they will select 10 finalists.

A final jury of African tech influencers will select the top 3 winners of the OSVP International Grand Prize in October/November 2023. The winners of the international competition will receive the following prizes: €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 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, etc.). The winner will receive €20,000.

Since the launch of OSVP in 2019, Orange is proud to have awarded around NLe 515,000 in prize money to winners of both the National and Women’s competition.

OMEA is proud to have also awarded around €600,000 in prize money to over 30 winners and provided funds and support to more than 90 entrepreneurs. Through OSVP, Orange continues to reaffirms its commitment to entrepreneurs making a positive impact across Africa and the Middle East.

Orange Sierra Leone is one of the leading telecommunications operators and service provider in Sierra Leone with 373 employees across the country as at 31st December 2022. Orange Sierra Leone was the first Telecoms Company to incorporate a mobile financial services company, Orange Mobile Finance (SL) Limited. It also incorporated the Orange Foundation in 2019, a company dedicated towards meeting the socio-economic needs of the society. The strategic objective of the Orange Sierra Leone is to become a responsible Corporate Social Investor, guided by our Corporate, social, and environmental commitments.

Orange is present in 18 countries in Africa and the Middle East and has over 143 million customers at 31 December 2022. With 6.9 billion euros of revenues in 2022, 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 80 million customers.

Orange, multi-services operator, key partner of the digital transformation provides its expertise to support the development of new digital services in Africa and the Middle East.

Orange is one of the world’s leading telecommunications operators with sales of 43.5 billion euros in 2022 and 136,000 employees worldwide at 31 December 2022, including 75,000 employees in France. The Group has a total customer base of 287 million customers worldwide at 31 December 2022, including 242 million mobile customers and 24 million fixed broadband customers. The Group is present in 26 countries. Orange is also a leading provider of global IT and telecommunication services to multinational companies under the brand Orange Business. In February 2023, the Group presented its strategic plan “Lead the Future”, built on a new business model and guided by responsibility and efficiency. “Lead the Future” capitalizes on network excellence to reinforce Orange’s leadership in service quality.

Orange is listed on Euronext Paris (symbol ORA) and on the New York Stock Exchange (symbol ORAN).

For more information on the internet and on your mobile: www.orange.com, www.orange-business.com and the Orange News

app or to follow Orange on Twitter: @orangegrouppr.

Orange and any other Orange product or service names included in this material are trademarks of Orange or Orange Brand

Services Limited.

Press Contacts:

Orange Sierra Leone

Kamal Abass, [email protected], + 232 76 600 180

Mabel Mason, [email protected], + 232 76 450 189

Orange Middle East and Africa

Khadija Komara, [email protected], +33 6 76 45 96 18

Anita Oyono, [email protected], +33 6 75 02 03 79