The 12th Orange Social Venture Prize in Africa and the Middle East kicked off on March 28. Candidates have until May 27 to submit their applications here.
POESAM was first launched in 2011. It has given roughly €555,000 to African business ventures with beneficial social and environmental consequences in diverse areas, including health, education, e-commerce, and farming, over the course of 11 previous editions.
The competition is categorized into two:
A national stage to gather applications, between March and late May at Orange’s 17 subsidiaries. When this stage is complete, a jury with representatives from Orange’s start-up ecosystem will meet in each subsidiary to choose 3 national winners (per subsidiary) who will qualify for the international stage;
An international stage, where the projects of the 3 winners from each subsidiary will be reviewed by an evaluation committee made up of group employees.
They will select 10 finalists following their evaluation. A final jury of African tech influencers will choose the 3 winners of the POESAM International Grand Prize in October. They will receive:
- €25,000 for 1st place
- €15,000 for 2nd place
- €10,000 for 3rd place
As equal opportunities are a crucial aspect of Orange policy, the International Women’s Prize will be awarded for the 3rd year running.
Supported by Orange Group Diversity and Inclusion, this €20,000 prize will either go to a project managed by a woman, or to a project offering a technological solution to improve the living conditions of women (women’s independence, creating or maintaining jobs, data collection on gender, digital and financial inclusion, etc.).