Orange-SL to Host Social Venture Prize Innovators Competition 2020

By Foday Moriba Conteh

One of the leading GSM mobile operators in the country, Orange Sierra Leone is poised to host its Social Venture Prize Innovators Competition on Thursday 10^th September, 2020 which will be the second to be held in Sierra Leone. The Orange-SL Social Venture Prize Innovators Competition is geared towards providing a platform for young innovators and creative thinkers in Africa & Middle East to exhibit their business ideas.

The Orange Social Venture Prize has been in existence for almost ten years now but 2019 was the first year for it to be hosted in Sierra Leone. The event has been rewarding and showcasing the best innovative and socially responsible business projects in Africa and the Middle East in order to support them.

In compliance with the stringent health measure instituted by the Government of Sierra Leone to maintain social distancing, this year Orange-SL Social Venture Prize Innovators Competition will be done via the various Television Stations and partner radio stations across the country. The TV Stations are SLBC, Star TV and FTN.

This year’s event will be the tenth edition to be hosted by the company and will bring on board young innovators and entrepreneurs across the country to pitch their best business ideas on how to solve simply societal problems or create businesses on their own. A panel of judges will judge participants based on their business ideas and winners will receive financial support to upkeep and improve on their innovative ideas and businesses.

The winner will eventually be participating in an international competition wherein a team of international judges will award the grand prize to the best winners at both national and international levels.

It could be recalled that during the 2019 Orange-SL Social Venture Prize Innovators Competition, 15 participants contested in the preliminary stage of the program and after a thorough scrutiny, Aminata F. Kanneh, a young Agro-Fish Farm innovator, Samuel Kamara a young E-Net innovator, and a Botswana national, Eviteh, qualified for the final stage.

Aminata F. Kanneh, the young innovator of the Agro-Fish Farm Ltd project, emerged as winner with 198 points, Eviteh scored 196 points and Samuel Kamara came third with 161 points. Aminata was therefore awarded the grand price of Le10 million, one 4G fly box. The two runners up received Le2.5 million each, and a 4G Mifi.

The Calabash Newspaper The Calabash Newspaper

The Calabash Newspaper Established in 2017, The Calabash Newspaper serves as a trusted platform for news and general information dissemination, catering to a broad Sierra Leonean audience both at home and abroad through its active presence on social media. The publication is committed to engaging its diverse readership by reporting on topical news events in Sierra Leone, enriched with editorials and insightful commentaries on pressing issues of the day. In addition to local news, The Calabash Newspaper expands its scope to include topics of continental interest, drawing from various international publications that address political, economic, and social developments across Africa.

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