Top firms to be feted at the annual Pacesetters Awards
From left: Directors of Blue Nile Rolling Mills Kotni Kumar and Botu Rao receiving the Pacesetter in steel manufacturing award from Jubilant Stewards of Africa (JSA) during a previous edition of the annual Pacesetters Awards.
What you need to know:
- The award features organisations, individuals, businesses and government agencies who over have demonstrated exemplary leadership.
- This year the award organisers looked at how the firms handled the Covid-19 pandemic that affected many businesses.
Top Companies are set to be recognised on Friday at the annual Pacesetters Awards in Nairobi, at exactly the same day and time the last year’s accolades were held.
This year’s award has received huge backing from various industry players who are partnering with Jubilant Stewards of Africa (JSA).
Some of the sponsors and partners of the award include a Kenyan mobile network operator and telecommunications firm, a regional motor dealer, a microfinance, a bank and Nation Media Group that will help spur visibility for the firms feted.
According to the sources privy to event, some of the companies that will feature in the list include last year’s award winners like regional leasing firm Vaell Limited, digital lender Zenka Finance, Myspace Properties and Blue Nile Rolling Mills.
Most of these firms have bagged other awards including the Top 100 NMG KPMG Survey. Vaell leasing graduated from KPMG Top 100 to club 101 that features companies with an annual turnover of over KSh1 billion.
Some of the fresh participants in the industry leadership survey include Real Auto Spares, Avantis Insurance Agency, City Walk Limited, Ruiru Mabati, Kevian Kenya Ltd, Digital Driving School, Security Firm Jeff Hamilton K Ltd, Kampala Uganda based Fintech firm Service Cops Ltd, Kenya Wine Agencies Limited (KWAL), Goodman Agencies LTD, Tier one banks, online shopping platform Jiji Kenya and Apollo Tours.
The award features organisations, individuals, businesses and government agencies who over the years have demonstrated exemplary leadership, outstanding innovation, quality products and services, growing the economy as well as positively transforming the society.
PSA awards seek to encourage these groups to go beyond the call of duty in their service to humanity. It does not only consider companies’ excellence in the industry but also contemplates the service delivery processes involved and how organizations make special efforts for the benefit of humankind. It is also committed to endorsing the best industry leadership ethics and practices.
Speaking from Kampala Uganda, Joseph Kiiza, the CEO and Founder of Service Cops Limited said, “It is such a pleasure to be recognised among industry leaders in Fintech. We will keep up the good work we have been doing to support the economy through innovative Fintech solutions. We have done a lot in the last 10 years we have been in existence and this award only encourages us to keep moving forward.”
For a decade now, Service Cops Ltd has been creating an impactful stack of solutions in the financial technology and business processes outsourcing (BPO) spaces serving diverse sectors of the economy; education, finance and banking, telecom, insurance, trade and business, among others.
Vice chairman of Kenya Association of Stock Brokers and Investments Banks (KASIB), FA Amish Gupta said, “Ethics plays a critical role in becoming a pacesetter in business and industry leadership. It’s about finding out who you are and staying true to that in the face of temptations, challenges and uncertainty. The Pacesetters Awards has validated my approach to the need for a Capital Markets Ethics Framework Improvement Initiative to deliver to investor expectations.”
To come up with the list of Pacesetters Awards nominees, Jared Oundo, the executive director, Jubilant Stewards of Africa said that the survey takes a whole year to be completed and the institutions are evaluated based on their delivery and impact on the economy and society.
This year the award organisers looked at how the firms handled the Covid-19 pandemic that saw many businesses crumble and jobs lost.
Unlike most awards held in Africa, the Pacesetters Award always is a “People’s Choice” award where those attending the event will choose their overall winner. This is done to give the attendees an element of control and ensure that they’re invested in the night and the Chief Pacesetter is not imposed on them.
The awards are based on the Performance Index (OPI) where processes and systems are scrutinized and benchmarked to globally accepted standards.
Bertha Mvati, the managing director of Vehicle and Equipment Leasing Limited (Vaell) said, “I would like to thank the Jubilant Stewards of Africa team for the work they are doing and for putting this award together. I would also want to thank my team across the entire region for their dedication and excellence that has seen us receive this recognition.”
