Local innovators, start-ups reach greater heights

Orange Botswana held the 10^th edition of the Orange Social Venture Prize this year, with the awards ceremony at Avani Hotel on October 14. This year’s event came at a crucial time as creative innovation and resilience increasingly become a necessity in these trying Covid-19 times.

Orange Botswana CEO, Dr. Patrick  Benon, said “The outbreak of COVID-19 has posed great challenges to the economy and people’s daily lives and will have far-reaching consequences beyond the spread of the disease. At the same time, crisis is also a strong driver for creativity and innovation. Our strategy at Orange is to support young entrepreneurs to innovate, hence Orange annually gives recognition to innovative individuals and start-ups which have a positive impact in essential fields such as agriculture, education, healthcare, mobile payment and sustainable development.“

From inception the Orange Social Venture Prize platform purposed to reward the best innovative and socially responsible business projects in Botswana. This year Orange received a higher amount of entries, totalling 95 applications. Out of the lot only three could emerge victorious. These chosen few walked away with the prestige and prize money allocated to Botswana entrants in the first phase of the competition. The winners were: 1^st prize taking home P50,000 in prize money; 2^nd prize taking home P30,000 in prize money; and 3^rd prize taking home P20,000 in prize money.

Orange Botswana continues to strive to be the preferred digital partner for social entrepreneurs and digital start-ups in Botswana .The platform rewards ingenious talent and celebrates innovative projects across the country and aims to improve the living conditions of people in Africa and the Middle East. Through this asset Orange has been able to make tremendous impact in education, healthcare, agriculture, mobile payments and sustainable development. Orange continues to nurture the spirit of entrepreneurship to propel start-ups like Brastorne to take up space in the international arena.

“I would also like to take this opportunity to commend all the candidates for taking part in the 10^th edition of the Orange Social Venture Prize, your ingenious ideas and your creativity have been duly noted. Keep perfecting your concepts as innovation is an on-going process. I would also like to congratulate this year’s national winners; I believe that you have the capability to wave the Botswana flag very high in the International phase,” said Dr. Benon.

The Orange Social Venture Prize competition takes place in two phases:

•       National phase, during which each of the 17 participating Orange businesses across Africa and the Middle East assess the projects submitted in their respective countries, ultimately selecting 3 winners per country. Segarona App, Lorato Healthcare App and Mohiri have successfully been named Botswana victors in this phase for 2020.

•       International phase, whereby all National winners compete for an International Grand Prize, which is presented to the 3 final winners. The 3 winners will receive 25,000 Euro, 15,000 Euro and 10,000 Euro respectively, as well as six months of customised digital mentoring and advice from Orange experts.

Orange Social Venture Prize is open to  students, employees or entrepreneurs aged over 21 years and start-ups that are less than three years old, in the following countries: Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Guinea Bissau, Guinea Conakry, Jordan, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali, Morocco, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Tunisia.