On October 22, 2025, in Kigali, Rwanda, Orange marked the 15th anniversary of its Social Entrepreneur Award in Africa and Middle East (POESAM) during a ceremony organized as part of Mobile World Congress. The winners were announced on the occasion.

The 2025 edition of POESAM rewarded five startups particularly innovative, selected from 70 finalists from 17 countries for their creativity, their positive impact and will be accompanied by the oranges digital center in order to accelerate the development of their project and their opening up to new markets.
Present at the ceremony were Yasser Shaker, CEO of Orange Africa and the Middle East as well as numerous players in the ecosystem entrepreneurial of the continent. Yasser Shaker, CEO of Orange Africa and Middle East reported that “in 15 years, Poesam has become well more than just a price. With more than 17,000 projects received, including 3,000 this year only, it is now establishing itself as the main platform African woman dedicated to innovation, empowering entrepreneurs to transform challenges into opportunities.”

The international grand prize honors all three first projects combining measurable social and/or environmental impacts, a strong potential for large-scale development and based on new technologies.

* 1st Prize of €25,000: Sand To Green (Morocco), is an agritech platform modeling profitable agroforestry plantations and regenerative, helping with the transition to sustainable and resilient systems.

* the 2nd Prize of €15,000: E-Blood Bank Makila (Democratic Republic of Congo). E-Blood Bank Makila is a platform digitally connecting hospitals, blood banks and donors, with payments secure and fast deliveries by drone or motorbike. And the

* the ^{3rd Prize, of €10,000}, is back to: N'Zassa Fund (Ivory Coast). N'Zassa Fund is a mobile application African micro-giving gamified, transforming donations into fun experiences to support local NGOs via mobile money.

for special prices,

* International women's prize of €20,000 who rewards a startup whose high-impact project is led by a woman: Proverdy (Tunisia). Proverdy is an AI platform helping businesses to measure, manage and reduce their carbon footprint, with compliant reporting and certified compensation projects.
* Favorite prize of €10,000, which rewards a startup that distinguishes itself by its originality and its impact: Maarifa (Botswana).
Maarifa is an AI-powered online learning platform, offering personalized and accessible education to improve academic success in Botswana.

noted that the Orange Social Entrepreneur Award in Africa and the Middle East (Poesam) has been illustrating the commitment for 15 years from Orange to stimulate technological innovation in the service of development sustainable and inclusive.