The 11th Orange Social Venture Prize in Africa and the Middle East rewards saw Botswana get three winning projects out of 14 finalists.
The names were revealed during the AfricaTech Festival, which took place on 9 November during an e-awards ceremony hosted by Élizabeth Tchoungui, Executive Director CSR, Diversity and Philanthropy and Deputy Chair for the Orange Foundation and Alioune Ndiaye, CEO of Orange Middle East and Africa.
The winner of the International Women’s Prize: The Mmaabo App (Botswana) – a maternity platform to support women throughout their pregnancy and following childbirth. In this category, the winner received 20 000 euros.
The winners of the International Grand Prix are: 3rd price: Agrinect (Botswana) – Agrinect is a digital company that reduces the cost of marketing and transporting agricultural products in Botswana and across Africa by connecting farmers with their target market.
The winner receives 10 000 euros. 2nd price: Kumulus (Tunisia) – Kumulus produces machines that are the size of a mini fridge and which produce 30 liters of drinking water a day using only solar energy and the natural humidity in the air. The winner received 15 000 euros prize money.
As for the 1st price: OuiCare (Cameroun) – which is an electronic health record that gives people access to their medical data and enables doctors to see their patients’ current health status and medical background. The winner received 25 000 euros.
Below are the national winners that were enrolled into the international phase but only Agrinect made it into the international top 3 and has been able to scoop 3rd prize. As for the international Prizes: 25,000 Euro, 15,000 Euro and 10,000 Euro respectively, as well as six months of customized digital mentoring and advice from Orange experts was on offer.
Special Category: Women Award
In 2020, Orange launched the International Women’s Prize as a main category within our Orange Social Venture Prize Africa & the Middle East and it offers funding of €20,000 for a start-up led by a woman or offering a positive social impact for women.
“For the Special Category: Women Award Finalist, we have Tshegofatso Moakofi with the Mmaabo App. The Mmaabo app is the winner of the international women prize. 20k€ for the international women prize winner + 6 to 9 months of support from experts to help develop the project (still to be defined).
For this category, about 165 files were considered, 5 made it to the international finals and Mmaabo App emerged successful (won).”
