The Orange Social Venture Prize, which aims to encourage startups that use innovation to fuel development on the African continent, is being extended to the Middle East and, this year, includes a Special Cultural Content Prize. In its 6 years of existence, the Orange Social Venture Prize has been exceedingly successful, with some 2,600 projects received. This strong turn-out by candidates illustrates the entrepreneurial dynamics and telecommunications potential of Africa and the Middle East.
The Orange Social Venture Prize showcases entrepreneurs offering innovative products and services meeting the health, agricultural, educational, energy, commercial or industrial needs of local communities.
Who can participate?
- Any entrepreneur 21 years and older,
- Any legal entity in existence for less than 3 years may participate in the prize at no cost, regardless of nationality,
- The projects presented must concern a service to be deployed in at least one of the 18 African and Middle Eastern countries listed in the contest rules(1).
(1) Botswana, Cameroun, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypte, Ile Maurice, Guinée Bissau, Guinée Conakry, Guinée Equatoriale, Madagascar, Mali, Maroc, Niger, République Centrafricaine, République Démocratique du Congo, Sénégal, Tunisie, Jordanie, Libéria.
Orange also opened incubators in five African countries: Senegal (CTIC), Mauritius (Ebene), Niger (Cipmen), Mali (Createam) and Guinea (Saboutech). Designed with inclusive, horizontal governance that brings together the public sector, the private sector and civil society, the originality of this model lies in co-creativity to nurture the emergence and development of small and medium businesses and start-ups. This approach is being deployed in other countries on the African continent.
Prizes:
- First place – 25,000 Euros,
- Second place – 15,000 Euros,
- Third place – 10,000 Euros,
- 5,000 Euros will go to the winner of the Special Cultural Content Prize
The 10 finalists of the Prize and the “Entrepreneur Club’s choice” award will also receive special support from the Grow Movement NGO for 6 months.
DEADLINE: September 21, 2016
Apply here: Orange Prize
AWP Network 
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