Orange Wraps Up OSVP 2025

By Foday Moriba Conteh

In a vibrant celebration of youth-led innovation and digital empowerment, Orange Sierra Leone, one of the country’s leading telecommunications companies, successfully concluded the 7th Edition of its Orange Social Venture Prize (OSVP) on Friday, July 25, 2025. The prestigious grand pitch event was held at the Orange Digital Centre on Hill Station in Freetown, and showcased the ingenuity and entrepreneurial spirit of Sierra Leone’s brightest innovators.

The event brought together eight national finalists competing across two categories for a combined prize pool exceeding NLe 300,000. These finalists presented their tech-based solutions to pressing societal challenges, ranging from access to education and business support for MSMEs, to innovations in finance and healthcare.

Following a dynamic series of live pitches, two standout winners emerged: Edward Kamara, founder of MiBuks, emerged as the National Prize Winner, receiving a cash award of NLe 200,000 for his impactful digital platform designed to empower Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to track sales, expenses and inventory; generate receipts and invoices and build a digital credit profile from their transaction history, and Richlyn Kainekay Turay, representing Smart College, was crowned the Tech Queen Female Category Winner, receiving NLe 120,000 in recognition of her innovative solution geared towards streamlining student access to higher education services through technology.

Delivering his address, Sekou Amadou Bah, Chief Executive Officer of Orange Sierra Leone, hailed the OSVP as a transformative initiative, and reaffirmed Orange’s long-term commitment to youth empowerment, innovation and digital inclusion.

“Since launching OSVP in Sierra Leone in 2019, Orange has remained committed to empowering digital entrepreneurs with the tools they need to succeed, including funding, mentorship and platforms to scale their ventures.”

He noted that Orange’s involvement goes beyond telecommunications; it is about being a catalyst for national development. Sekou Amadou Bah highlighted Orange’s investments in infrastructure, innovation and inclusion, particularly through the Orange Digital Centres (ODCs) established in six locations nationwide. Notably, three ODCs are dedicated to empowering women.

“In just three years, we’ve trained over 5,000 young Sierra Leoneans, 47% of whom are women, with a 15% job integration rate,” Sekou Amadou Bah revealed.

He emphasized that those efforts are not merely corporate social responsibility, but part of a strategic vision to build a future-proof digital economy for Sierra Leone.

Fredrick Hans Ampiah, Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Sierra Leone, commended the OSVP for spotlighting homegrown innovation, and called for structural investments in Sierra Leone’s innovation economy.

“In my former life, our ambition was to position Ghana as the ICT hub of West Africa. We built incubators, attracted venture capital and supported startups that are now global names. Sierra Leone can achieve the same. What we need is commitment, structure, and vision,” Fredrick Hans Ampiah maintained.

He urged policymakers and stakeholders to view Sierra Leone’s small market size not as a limitation, but as an opportunity to build exportable, scalable solutions that can thrive across borders.

Fredrick Hans Ampiah further praised Orange’s work in building the digital skills pipeline, but pushed for deeper public-private partnerships to accelerate innovation:

“For UNDP, this isn’t just about prizes. It’s about building a whole innovation economy; one that has the right policies, infrastructure, financing and talent pipeline to truly transform lives and communities.”

In a powerful reflection, Minister of Communication, Technology and Innovation, Salima Bah, spoke of the transformative journey Sierra Leone has taken over the past seven years in digital innovation.

“Seven years ago, there was virtually no Government innovation policy. Today, thanks to collective efforts from Government, the private sector and partners like UNDP, UNICEF and the World Bank, we are seeing the tangible fruits of that investment.”

She proudly cited examples of local innovators gaining regional and international recognition, and emphasized that Sierra Leone’s agility and scale make it an ideal testbed for innovative solutions.

“The concept of ‘Country as a Lab’ is not just rhetoric. Our relatively small population gives us a competitive advantage. It allows us to pilot, refine and scale tech solutions quickly.”

Salima Bah also announced the imminent launch of national consultations for Sierra Leone’s Startup Act, a legal framework tailored specifically to startups, modeled after similar successful frameworks in Nigeria and Egypt.

“Startups are not SMEs. They need their own regulations not restrictions. This Act will be co-created with the ecosystem—for the ecosystem.”

She ended her address with a resounding message to young entrepreneurs and innovators: “We understand your journey. We are with you. And we will walk this path together.”

Reacting to his win, Edward Kamara, founder of MiBuks, expressed deep gratitude to Orange Sierra Leone, describing the recognition as a strong validation of his team’s efforts to digitize the operations of small businesses in the country.

“This award affirms the vision behind MiBuks; a platform born out of a passion to transform how MSMEs operate in Sierra Leone and across Africa,” Edward Kamara said. “I dedicate this win to every entrepreneur struggling with manual records or seeking access to finance. We will reinvest this prize to further expand our reach especially, to underserved communities.”

Richlyn Kainekay Turay, representing Smart College, who was crowned Tech Queen in the Female Category, also expressed heartfelt appreciation to Orange Sierra Leone. She used the opportunity to encourage other young women pursuing careers in technology.

“This award is a justification of the work we’re doing at Smart College to make access to higher education services more seamless and inclusive,” she said. “I dedicate this win to every young girl dreaming of building tech solutions that solve real problems. Let this be a reminder that innovation has no gender.”

Both Edward Kamara’s and Richlyn Kainekay Turay’s recognition highlights the growing impact of homegrown tech innovations and the importance of empowering youth-led digital solutions in Sierra Leone’s development agenda.