By- Aruna Rashed Toma Bangura
The leading telecommunication company in Sierra Leone, Orange SL has yesterday 13th March, 2023, officially launched the 5th Edition of the annual Orange Social Venture Prize (OSVP) in Sierra Leone at Orange SL headquarter office at Regent road, Hill Station and the 13th Edition in Africa and the Middle East to support social innovation and encourage local entrepreneurship.
Giving his keynote address on the 5th Edition of OSVP, the Head of Public Relation and Cooperate Social Responsibility, Kamal Abass stated that, Orange SL has positioned itself to be the lead in digital platform to start up in the Middle East and Africa.
Kamal Abass said the Orange social venture prize has been awarded to innovative project start-ups since 2019 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 contributes to achieving sustainable development goals.
Kamal Abass informed that through the OSVP prize, Orange SL as a committed operator aims to contribute to the socio-economic development, support local social and environmental innovations, and encourage entrepreneurship in Sierra Leone.
According to Kamal Abass, the competition has two stages, which are the National and International stage.
He disclosed that the national winner will collect NLe 100,000 and NLe 50,000 for women’s winner and in the international stage the winner will collect 25,000 euros for the first position, 15,000 euros for the second position and 10,000 euros for the third position, adding that equal opportunities are a key aspect of Orange policy.
He added that international women’s prize will also be awarded for the fourth consecutive year as the prize will be awarded to women who offer technology solution to improve the living conditions of women in job creations.
He stated that since the launched of OSVP in 2019, Orange Sierra Leone is proud to have awarded around NLe 515,000 as prize money to winners of both National and International Women’s competition, adding that OMEA is proud to have also awarded 600,000 euros in prize money to over thirty winners and provided funds and support to more than ninety entrepreneurs.
He reiterated that Orange will continue to reaffirms its commitment to entrepreneurs in making a positive impact across Africa and the Middle East.
The winner of the OSVP 4th Edition, Joseph David Koroma of Life Blood stated that in he submitted his application via Google to OSVP on the 27th May, 2022.
He noted that he showcased his innovation of Life Blood and he became the winner of Orange OSVP in 2022.
He went on to state that as a child he was saved through blood transfusion and he is growing up as a medical student who has passion of using technology as Life Blood, adding that he wants to increase voluntary blood donation in Sierra Leone.
Joseph David Johnson said Sierra Leone has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world as per estimate.
He said using technology at Life Blood; they have recorded over 500 donations with over 1000 on site registrations.
He thanked Orange SL for showcasing his innovation to the world.
Others OSVP winners for 2022 made similar meaningful statements.