The second edition of the East African Community’s Regional Quality Awards recently held in Kampala, Uganda has recognized various companies in Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania for Excellence in Superior Standards.
The awards aim to celebrate excellence in quality, featuring categories such as Company of the Year, Service Company of the Year, and Product of the Year, with recognition given at both the Small and Medium (MSME) and Large Enterprise (LE) levels.
The winners and runners-up for the East African Community’s Regional Quality Awards 2024 are:
Company of the Year – Small and Medium Enterprises
- Winner: CAPS Limited – Tanzania
2. Runner-up: ISHYO Foods- Rwanda
Company of the Year – Large Enterprises
- Winner: Said Salim Bakhresa Company Limited – Tanzania
2. Runner-up: Brookside Dairies Limited – Kenya
Product of the Year – Small and Medium Enterprises
- Winner: PVC insulated non-armored cable flame retardant and anti-rodent – ASL Wires & Cables – Kenya
2. Runner-up: ZIMA Pumpkin Extra Virgin Oil – ZIMA Health – Rwanda
Product of the Year – Large Enterprises
- Winner: Dairy Best UHT Milk – BROOKSIDE DAIRIES – Kenya
2. Runner-up: Bwana Sukari (brown sugar) – Kilombero Sugar Limited– Tanzania
Service Company of the Year – Small and Medium Enterprises
- Winner: CAPS Limited – Tanzania
2. Runner-up: Izere Services & Trading Company Limited – Rwanda
Service Company of the Year – Large Enterprises
- Winner: University of Embu (UoEm) – Kenya
2. Runner-up: Prime Insurance Limited – Rwanda
The EAC Quality awards
The EAC Regional Quality Awards are part of a broad effort to promote an embedded quality culture in East African enterprises to ensure business growth while contributing to sustainable development.
The regional awards ceremony featured nominees who had emerged as winners from National Quality Award competitions conducted across EAC member states: Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda.
The Minister of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives Republic of Uganda Mwebesa Francis who graced the event urged East African Community member states to be intentional about supporting start-ups and Medium and Small Scale Enterprises as an engine for economic growth and increased employment opportunities especially for the youthful population.
“We should be deliberate as the EAC region on boosting the competitiveness of Medium and Small Scale Enterprises to thrive in the marketplace by supporting them to implement quality practices.
This will enable us to tap into the African Free Trace Area’s continental market valued at GDP of USD 2.9 trillion and with a huge market of over 1.4 billion consumers,” he said.
Organized by the EAC Secretariat in collaboration with the International Trade Centre (ITC) and hosted by the Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS), the EAC Regional Quality Awards are supported through the second phase of the European Union (EU)-EAC Market Access Upgrade Program (MARKUP II), funded by the EU.
The EAC Deputy Secretary General, Customs, Trade and Monetary Affairs Ms Annette Mutaawe Ssemuwemba pointed out that quality lies at the heart of competitiveness.
“The ceremony is a testament to the diversity and resilience of our community. We are grateful to the support of the European Union to the MARKUP II program. With a collective commitment to culture of quality, we can unlock the potential of our region.”
The UNBS Executive Director, Engineer James Kasigwa revealed that as Uganda transitions from National Development Plan (NDP) III to NDP IV, which strongly roots for supporting MSMEs, UNBS is currently implementing a new value proposition aimed at growing quality MSMEs to enhance competitiveness of their products on the market through Export promotion, import substitution and Industrialization.
Executive Director of the East African Business Council (EABC), Adrian Njau, noted that the EAC Quality Awards exemplify the shared vision of fostering a robust quality culture across the East African Community.
“Previous studies conducted by EABC have shown that when products comply with standards, it results in regional excellence, an increase in intra-EAC trade by more than 10 percent, reduced border clearance time to half a day, and enhanced global competitiveness. These awards provide an invaluable platform for enterprises particularly MSMEs to showcase their commitment to quality, embrace innovation, and overcome barriers to market access.”