By Osman Kargbo
The pacesetting mobile telecommunications company Orange Sierra Leone has put smiles on the faces of young entrepreneurs who have exhibited excellence in managing and promoting their business ventures to Sierra Leone and the world.At the grand finale of its Orange Social Venture Prize (OSVP) 4th Edition, held on 1 September 2022 at its 25 Regent Road, Hill Station Head Office, Orange SL presented grand cheques for NLe100,000 to Osman Yaah and NLe50,000 to Adeola Carew respectively for winning the OSVP 4th Edition and the Orange Tech Queen competitions.
The OSVP is an annual competition that promotes starts-up of young entrepreneurs with innovative ideas and skills of substantial benefit to society. And the Orange Tech Queen is out to boost business establishments run by young women to empower and improve their lives.
Both winners presented well-managed, innovative and life-changing business ventures that are of great benefits to Sierra Leone and human kind.
Osman Yaah, who won the OSVP 4th Edition award of NLe100,000, presented a business venture known as Auto Smart Irrigation and Energy Company that initiated the irrigation technology of watering thousands and millions of acres of farmland with the dialing or pressing of a phone number that instantly commands a minute square-rim-like machine to power water from nearby sources to irrigate thousands of acres of farmland, even without the presence of someone on site, making it easy to water and cultivate vast acres of farmlands and boost agriculture and food self-sufficiency.
Adeola Carew, who won the NLe50, 000 Orange Tech Queen completion prize, presented a business venture known as Safe Space Sierra Leone that helps to fight against sexual abuse of children and young women through the creation of a communication mechanism that help victims of sexual abuse channel their complaints and cases to the institution in real time from every nook and cranny of Sierra Leone.
Among the five finalists that presented their business innovations for the OSVP 4th Edition, Osman Yaah happened to carry the day, while Adeola Carew, a smart young girl also a victim of child abuse and wants others with similar experience to remove the veil of such a stigma from their faces and report such matters, emerged the winner of the grand prize among three finalists under the Tech Queen competition.
The OSVP was introduced years ago to promote entrepreneurship and support business start-up through technological innovation and digital expansion, said Orange SL’s Chief Executive Officer Seku Amadu Bah, in his welcome statement prior to the presentations of the finalists.
“The OSVP is part of Orange’s philanthropy and corporate social responsibility,” CEO Bah said, adding that since 2021 Orange SL has introduced more prizes to include women in their CSR programmes to boost women empowerment and enterprises. “OSVP is out to encourage empowerment, Innovation and Investment,” he added.
Orange SL’s Chief Operation Officer for its Innovation Salone, Foday Kamara, gave a background of the company’s OSVP, saying it started about four years ago in Sierra Leone, although the initiative has been going on for many more years in other countries in Africa where Orange operates.
At the end of the day all the finalists emerged winners as all of them were awarded with remarkable certificates for their innovative start-ups and cogent participation in the competition.
Osman Yaah of Auto Smart Irrigation, who won the grand prize, was followed by Joseph Koroma and Osman Sesay of LifeBlood, and Martin Daimbaquare of Eco Friendly Incubator Company. Others in their category were Emmanuel Alie Mansaray, who manufactures Prosthetic Limbs, and Kumba Fanday of The Community, a cash lending enterprise for SMEs.
And Adeola Carew, winner of the Orange Tech Queen prize, was in the same category with Fatmata Binta Jalloh of Farmrette Salone and Chernor Y. Jagitay of CJBEM SL Ltd (Point of Sale).
The judges were drawn from various academic backgrounds in the business, management, entrepreneurship, commerce, literature and technology disciplines, with wealth of work experience national and international organisations, as presented by the mistress of ceremony Haja Isatu Bah.
