African Startups Win Orange Social Venture Prize

At AfricaCom, a technology trade show in Africa, held in Cape Town on 12-14 November, Orange has unveiled the names of the three winners of the international competition:

First prize: Chaque souffle compte (Every breath counts), a maker of interactive incubators for newborn babies that can be remotely controlled using the doctor’s smartphone to prevent mortality among premature babies in Cameroon and in Africa.

Second prize: J-Palm Liberia, which creates small factories to process palm oil in rural areas to increase productivity by 50% and reduce processing time to boost farmers’ revenue.

Third prize: Flit Ride, puts passengers in touch with taxi drivers in Madagascar.

For the ninth year running, Orange awarded the Orange Social Venture Prize in Africa and the Middle East at a special ceremony at its stand at AfricaCom.

Since 2011, the Orange Prize for Social Entrepreneurship in Africa and the Middle East rewards innovative and responsible company projects that have a concrete social or environmental impact in fields as diverse as education, health, agriculture, mobile payment, and sustainable development.

The three winners of the grand prize won €25,000, €15,000 and €10,000 for first, second and third prize, and will benefit from over three months of personalized support from Orange experts or partners to develop their project.

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The competition, which is held in 17 of the countries where Orange operates, was organized in two stages. During the first stage, out of 1,333 applications received, 48 innovative projects were chosen as winners and rewarded in the relevant country.

Then 10 projects were selected and presented to an international jury made up of professionals, investors and institutions. Of the ten projects, three were chosen as finalists.

This year for the first time, five countries – Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Liberia, and Morocco – created a prize for innovative digital projects by women or targeting the female population.