Orange SL Launches 5th OSVP Competition

After four competitions in a row, Orange Sierra Leone (OSL) has launched another  Orange Social Venture Prize (OSVP) on Monday 13th March, 2023. It is the 13th competition for Africa and the Middle East. The launching which attracted officials  from different walks of life took place at OSL headquaters in Freetown. It marks the beginning of another national competition  round for which entrepreneurs of various fields could apply.

Applications for the competition have been  opened since the launching day, and will close on 21st May, this year. Entrepreneurs can apply via these links: http://osvpsl12023.innosl.com and https://poesam.orange.com for the national and international competitions respectively. Speaking at the launching, OSL Public Relations Officer, Kamal Abass  informed the audience that NLe100, 000 or Le100m would go  to the national winner while NLe50, 000 or Le50m reserved for the women’s winner.  At the end of the application phase, he said, a jury made up of representatives of the Orange’s start-up Eco-system will meet to select the 3 national winners and the women’s noble winner.

He went on to state that at the international stage, 3 winners from each subsidiary in the 17 Orange affiliates in Africa and Middle East wold  be selected for the international phase. The international competition is handled by Orange Middle East and Africa (OMEA).

The selected applicants will be evaluated by a committee  of evaluators.  10 finalists will be selected at the end of the evaluation process, and a final jury of African tech influencers will select the top 3 winners of the OSVP international Grand Prize between October and November, 2023. “The first winner will get 25, 000 euros, the second, 15, 000 euros and the third, 10, 000 euros,” he pointed out.

Since equal opportunities is a key aspect of OSL Policy, he said, the international women’s prize would  be given out for the fourth consecutive year. “A woman who offers a technological solution to improve the living conditions of women will receive a prize of up to 20, 000 euros,” he assured.

During the  launching ceremony,  those who have benefitted from the OSVP awards made glowing testimonies. The OSVP national winner for 2022, Osman Yaah who is a successful agriculturist narrated  a brief account of how his fortune under OSVP  came about.  It all started when he looked at Sierra Leone’s huge agricultural potentials, yet the country faces the perennial challenge of food insecurity.  “Sierra Leone has 70% arable land with 70% farmers, but we cannot feed ourselves,” he wonders.

He further noted that the food problem persists even when government is spending over US$2m to import food over 40, 000 tonnes of rice. These factors, Yaah said, drove him into agriculture employing 15 farmers for a start.  It was at the Orange Digital Centre (ODC), he went on , that he learned how to make a mobile app that made him realise his dream. With the knowledge and expertise gained at the ODC, Yaah developed a mobile app for an irrigation system.

“Through the app, one can stay as far as the United  States and water his crops in Sierra Leone,” he emphasised.

The knowledge empowerment and financial support Yaah got from OSL has transformed him from a background of abject poverty to decent living. Overnight, he migrated from a metal scrap scavenger to a Chief Executive Officer (CEO).  Yaah is  now a CEO of not a company but companies.

Success recorded OSVP   left him with the impression Orange truly cares.

The International OSVP Grand Prize winner for 2022, Joseph Koroma also narrated a similar story coming from a health perspective. As a medical student, Koroma looked at Sierra Leone’s high maternal mortality rate owing to blood shortages, and reflected on how he was saved at birth through blood donation.

Out of his varied experiences,  he developed a blood app through which potential blood donors and beneficiaries can access with the click of a botton. Koroma thought it fit to sell this idea to OSL through the OSVP competition.

“In May, 2022, I submitted the initiative, and Lifeblood was the last to apply out of 263 applicants,” Koroma recounted. Lifeblood, he continued,  was among 83 of the shortlisted applicants for the first round, and later proceeded to the second round.He subsequently made it to the top 15, and in October, 2022, he became Sierra Leone’s first winner of the international OSVP, 2022.

“We wanted to leave a mark in society, and the accolade will remain in the history books. ” he said.

Koroma’s Lifeblood app was launched over a week ago by the Chief Medical Officer, Dr Mohamed Kabba. Through the support of Concern Worldwide, An international non-governmental organisation, Lifeblood project is now established in four major hospitals: Princess Christian Maternity, Connaught, 34-Military and Rokupa Government hospitals, thanks to OSL. Koroma’s Lifeblood project is making  positive impact in the country’s health sector.

Sierra Leone is on record to have cut down her maternal and child deaths from over 1, 000 to 400 according to current World Health report. Since the launch of OSVP in 2019, OSL is proud to have awarded around NLe515, 000 or Le515m  in prize money to winners of the national and women’s competition.

OMEA also has awarded around 600, 000 Euros to over 30 winners, and provided funds and support to more than 90 entrepreneurs. Through OSVP, Orange continues to reaffirm its commitment to entrepreneurs making a positive impact across Africa and the Middle East.

OSL is one of the leading telecoms operators and service provider in Sierra Leone with 373 employees across the country as at December, 2022. It was the first company to incorporate a mobile finance service which is spreading far and wide as the OSVP.