12th Orange Social Venture Prize Applications Open

March 28 will mark the opening of the 12th Orange Social Venture Prize in Africa and the Middle East.

POESAM was launched in 2011. Over 11 previous editions, it has awarded around €555,000 to African business projects with positive social and environmental impacts in various sectors: health, education, e-commerce and farming.

There are two stages to the competition:

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.).

Phases of the Orange Social Venture Prize competition

The first phase will take place between June and September: each application will be assessed according to the rules of the national competitions and up to three winners will be selected in each country. The international phase will then begin. An evaluation committee of Orange employees will preselect 10 finalists from the national winners.

In October, these finalists will be evaluated by a grand jury of influential representatives from the African tech world, who will choose the three overall winners of the International Grand Prix.

This jury will also be responsible for choosing the winner of the International Women’s Prize, from five finalists selected by an evaluation committee made up of Orange’s diversity and inclusion teams.

Candidates can submit their applications until May 27 on the website https://POESAM.Orange.com .