The 13th edition of the POESAM, aims to support social innovation and encourage entrepreneurship.
The 13th Orange Social Venture Prize in Africa and the Middle East has been opened for submissions from this week. Candidates from the 17 countries within the Orange footprint have until May 21, 2023, to submit their project on the website https://POESAM.orange.com.
Since 2011, the POESAM prize has been awarded to innovative projects by start-ups, based on information and communication technologies that have a positive social impact in Africa and the Middle East in the fields of education, healthcare, e-commerce, and agriculture, or that contribute to achieving sustainable development goals. Through POESAM, Orange reaffirms its commitment to entrepreneurs making a positive impact in the mentioned region.
The competition runs in two stages. A national stage to collect applications, between March and May 2023 in Orange’s 17 subsidiaries in Africa and the Middle East. At the end of this application phase, a jury made up of representatives of the Orange’s start-up ecosystem will meet in each subsidiary to select 3 national winners (per subsidiary) who will automatically qualify for the second phase of the competition, the international stage.
In the international stage, each subsidiary will be represented by the projects of its 3 winners, which will be evaluated by an evaluation committee made up of Group employees. After their evaluation, they will select 10 finalists. A final jury of African tech influencers will select the 3 winners of the POESAM International Grand Prize in October/November 2023.
The winners receive €25,000, €15,000 for and €10,000 for the top 3. Not only this, there will be an International Women’s Prize awarded for the fourth consecutive year. This prize will be awarded to a woman who offers a technological solution to improve the living conditions of women (women’s independence, job creation or preservation, gender data collection, digital and financial inclusion, etc.). The winner will receive €20,000.
