Startupper of the Year Challenge from Total

Total announces the opening for participation in the "Startupper of the Year" challenge. Through this challenge, Total aims to support good ideas and projects that help address a widespread problem affecting communities in any country. It could be about providing educational opportunities, reducing child mortality, improving public health, developing access to electricity in rural areas, improving vehicle safety on the roads, building houses with eco-friendly materials, or anything that could make life better.

Three winners from each country will receive financial support, extensive publicity, and coaching. From among these three winners per country, we will select grand winners by region, who will be offered additional support.

This year, a Top Female Entrepreneur category has been introduced. During the first Challenge, women accounted for almost 25% of the winners, even though they only made up 13% of the applicants. With this special award this year, we hope to give the women entrepreneurs an extra push to take part. It is also aligned with other Total initiatives for women.

Selection Criteria:

1. The project or business owner must not be more than 35 years old.
2. The participant must be a citizen of the country where they participate.
3. The project can be an idea or a start-up created within the last two years.
4. The project should offer a practical way of addressing a public health, safety, education, accessibility, or other issue affecting local communities.
5. Innovation isn’t necessarily revolutionary, involving something brand new or a total transformation. It can be incremental as well, improving an existing technology, product or service, or even just the way things are done.
6. Projects that demonstrate feasibility and have the potential to benefit a broader public.

Awards:

1. For any Startup For Better Energy: Possible partnership with the Total affiliate in the country.
2. For the Top Female Entrepreneur:
   • Networking.
   • Coaching/Mentoring.
3. Three Winners from each country will get:
   • Financial support.
   • Heightened exposure (Media, PR, networking).
   • Coaching.
4. The first-place winner from each country will then compete for one of the six “Grand Regional Winner” awards.