By: James Kamara-Manneh

Orange S.L has continued its strive in tapping raw talented Sierra Leoneans that are innovative, business oriented and with the zest for a change of life. Orange S.L. yesterday 13th March 2023 launched the 5th edition of the 2023 Orange Social Venture Prize (OSVP) at the Regent road headquarters in Freetown.

The keynote speaker Madam G.Young welcomed all that attended the launching and especially the previous winners of the OSVP 4th edition. Madam Young said the launch of the 2023 OSVP 5th edition is also the 13th edition of the OSVP Middle East in Africa and that this competition is dedicated to driving digital inclusion, and start-up acceleration in technological innovation for youth across Sierra Leone. She also highlighted that the competition also gears towards gender empowerment, promoting access for women and that this competition aims to contribute to the Social Economic development to support local social and environmental innovation and encourage entrepreneurship in Sierra Leone, “this is as a form of giving back to the community in which we operate,” she said.

Whereas the Head of Public Relations & Cooperate Social Responsibility, Mr. Kamal Abass said Orange is in a position to be the leading mobile phone partner in Africa and the Middle East. He added that both the Middle East and Africa initiated the OSVP 13 years ago to reward the best technological project and positively give back to the social challenges mainly in the fields of Education, Health, Agriculture, mobile payments and sustainable development in Africa and the Middle East.

Mr Abass said the competition is organized in all seventeen affiliated orange regions and that the three winners of the seventeen countries get the opportunity to compete in a grand international contest wherein one out of the fifty-one contestants emerges as the winner. He revealed that the international winner bags twenty-five thousand Leones (NLe 25,000.00).

Orange S.L. commerce the OSVP in 2019 and successfully held four national OSVP competitions in 2019,2020,2021 and 2022 respectively.

Mr Abass said last year the OSVP competition was supported by their proud partners to bring meaning into the innovation axis and increase their empowerment for young stardom innovators and entrepreneurs. He continued that out of 128 applicants in 2022, Osman Yaah of SMART INREGATION and ENERGY emerges winner of the 2022 OSVP contest and won the grand prize of one hundred million Leones (Le 100,000,000.00). While Joseph David Koroma emerges as the international grand winner for Sierra Leone and won the grand prize of twenty-five thousand Leone (Le 25,000.00).

The Head of Public Relations said in 2021 they introduced an additional prize to increase female participation and to promote projects that offer technological solutions to improve the living condition of women. He concluded by calling on all youths to make use of this opportunity and to submit their innovative stardom project with a specific focus in the field of education, health care, E-commence and agriculture that will contribute to achieving sustainable growth.

He also called on women to submit their project applications on technological solutions and to improve the conditions of women; that is women’s independent, job creation on preservation, gender data collection, digital and financial inclusion etc.

However, the three previous winners made a stunning remark on the experiences they went through in the competition before becoming winners. Madam Adeola Carew winner of the Women’s price for the fourth edition of the OSVP in Sierra Leone. She is a sex-positive advocate and a Law student, Mr Osman Yaah of SMART INREGATION ENERGY was a national prize winner for the Orange OSVP competition 2023, and the winner of the international grand prize, Joseph David Koroma founder of LIFEBLOOD winner of the orange OSVP for Africa and the Middle East.

The launching was climaxed by a questions and answers session coupled with group photos, and was chaired by the media officer Madam Mabel Mason.

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