Apply now for the Orange African Social Venture Prize

With this prize, Orange will provide a financial endowment as well as expert support to young companies that put forward innovative projects with a significant social impact.

Orange supports social entrepreneurs

Orange is committed to financially supporting and offering its expertise to the management of the growing small and midsize companies who are awarded this prize. In addition to receiving an endowment of €10 000 to €25 000, the three prize-winners will receive six months of support from entrepreneurial and ICT experts. In addition, a "favourite project", selected by visitors of the group's web portal, will be highlighted before the jury responsible for selecting the winning projects.

Who can enter?

Any entrepreneur or legal entity that has been in existence for fewer than three years at the time of the competition may participate at no cost and with no restriction on nationality. Submitted projects must be designed to be deployed in at least one of the African countries in which Orange operates and must use information and communication technology in an innovative way to help improve the living conditions of the populations in these countries.

The Orange African Social Venture Prize will be awarded once again this year to three entrepreneurs or start-ups offering solutions that use ICT in innovative ways to meet the needs of populations on the African continent. Projects proposed during the first edition covered a variety of fields, such as healthcare, agriculture, banking services and education.

Applications will be accepted until 21 September 2012.

Previous winners

Last year, it is reported that more than 600 candidates responded to the call for projects, reflecting the strong entrepreneurial spirit and the high potential of telecommunications services in Africa.

The three prizewinners of the first edition proposed the following projects: