African Excellence Awards 2022 What does it mean to be in the office in the 21st Century? To ten different organisations, you’ll find ten different answers. The team at KOFISI, however, have made it their mission to deliver truly incredible results to their clients. In MEA Markets’ African Excellence Awards 2022, the firm was recognised for their incredible achievements. We take a closer look at how they’ve risen through the ranks to such heights of success. Best Shared Workspace Provider - East Africa
MEA Markets wants to use these awards to celebrate the best firms, teams and individuals, who have shown determination throughout the last year. We look to reward those who have not let anything stop them from providing the best products and services in one of the fastest growing business regions in the world. When looking at the UAE Business Awards, our web visitors, subscribers, social media followers and wider circulation look to MEA Markets to determine some of the major factors that helps to drive business. Because of this, we can say it is a trusted and respected avenue for those involved in or doing business with those within this affluent region. From engineering and manufacturing to textiles and telecommunications, the UAE Business Awards accepts nominations from all industries found in the area and looks to highlight those companies who drive innovation and competition within their sector, ensuring that the most deserving businesses get to stand in the spotlight. Sofi Bajor, Editor www.mea-markets.com MEA Markets is proud to announce the return of the African Excellence Awards in 2022. Naturally, we will again look to highlight and acknowledge the industry leaders from the wide-ranging sectors and specialisms across the continent. This awards programme will showcase and cast a spotlight on the dedicated entrepreneurs and innovative professionals, whose work and determination has helped to drive Africa to be recognised as one of the leading places for national and international business. AI Global Media, Ltd. (AI) takes reasonable measures to ensure the quality of the information on this web site. However, AI will not assume any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, correctness or completeness of any information that is available through this web site. If errors are brought to our attention, we will try to correct them. The information available through the website and our partner publications is for your general information and use and is not intended to address any particular finance or investment requirements. In particular, the information does not constitute any form of advice or recommendation by us or any of our partner publications and is not intended to be relied upon by users in making or refraining from making any investment or financial decisions. Appropriate independent advice should be obtained before making any such decision. Any arrangement made between you and any third party named in the site is at your sole risk and responsibility.
4. KOFISI: Best Shared Workspace Provider - East Africa 8. Biothermal SA (Pty) Ltd: Best Thermal Packaging & Temperature Monitoring Distribution Specialists - Southern Africa 10. Scenic Landscaping Limited: Best Irrigation & Landscaping Business - Seychelles 12. Courts Mammouth: Best Online Shopping Retailer 2022 14. Kansai Plascon Uganda Limited: Best Paints & Coatings Brand 2022 - Uganda 16. MozComputers: Best IT Sales and Service Provider 2022 – Mozambique & Best SME Datacenter Solutions Company 2022 17. Blackburn Consulting Pty Limited: Best Project & Contract Management Company – Seychelles 18. TREAD Research: Clinical Trials Organisation of the Year - South Africa 19. BAT Computer Technologies Limited: Most Reliable Digital Transformation Partner 2022 - Nigeria 20. Inicio BD Co Ltd: Agripreneur of the Year - Ghana 21. Scarab Water: Best Wastewater Treatment Solutions Provider – Southern Africa Contents 22. Airline Management Support Limited: Best Aviation Supply Company 2022 - Nigeria 23. Exotic EPZ Ltd: Best Female-Owned Agribusiness - East Africa 24. ROTOCON: Best Printing & Converting Equipment Supplier – South Africa 25. TGM Education: Study Abroad Agency of the Year 2022 – West Africa 26. Troyka Group: Branded Equity Firm of the Year 2022 - Nigeria 27. Cabinet d’Etudes et Métrés CHORFI SARL: Best for Construction Cost Estimations & Quantity Surveyor – Morocco 28. Transcend For Human Development: Best Leadership Development Training Programme – Egypt 29. NiGSA Energy Service Limited: Most Reliable Energy Sector Engineering Company - West Africa & Excellence Award in QHSE Management 2022 30. Sekura International Group: Best Integrated Security Services Provider - East Africa 31. Astral Aviation: Best Air Freight Solutions Provider 2022
African Excellence Awards 2022 4 Best Shared Workspace Provider - East Africa What does it mean to be in the office in the 21st Century? To ten different organisations, you’ll find ten different answers. The team at KOFISI, however, have made it their mission to deliver truly incredible results to their clients. In MEA Markets’ African Excellence Awards 2022, the firm was recognised for their incredible achievements. We take a closer look at how they’ve risen through the ranks to such heights of success. The office is a concept which has stood still for decades, but KOFISI stands apart as an organisation dedicated to bringing the idea of the office firmly into the 21st Century. As work evolves, peoples’ needs change, so too will their space requirements at the office. Empowering businesses of every size to make this change has been the mission of the KOFISI team, and it’s a mission that they’re succeeding at. With eight centres strategically positioned across the continent, in Nairobi, Lagos and Dar Es Salaam, the team at KOFISI have been able to support businesses from every corner of industry. Whether developing a bespoke solution for large teams to congregate within or a fully furnished private office for teams of three or more staff members, they excel at delivering something special. The need for the office has never gone away. Moving on from the COVID-19 pandemic people realised they still need to congregate to collaborate and communicate. As businesses have returned to the office, enterprise has been trying to make sure the office remains relevant in different ways. For KOFISI, the aim has always been to raise the bar when it comes to the quality of the office space provided for employees, workers and businesses operating in Africa. These are designed to be spaces that not only inspire and engage but enable productive business and working practises. It’s a clear investment from clients into their staff. The support of KOFISI has made an enormous difference to lots of enterprises. Within each KOFISI Centre, there is a host of workspaces where teams are able to collaborate and connect. These include flexible desk areas, private booths, phone booths, meeting rooms, a media and podcasting studio as well as communal kitchens, cafes, a restaurant, outdoor terraces and large event and conference facilities. Since opening their doors, the team have put world class interior design at the heart of how they operate, but that’s not the only important factor. Key to the way in which the team has expanded is the concept of hospitality-led work environments, delivering the sort of service that would only otherwise be found within a hotel. The KOFISI team provide front desk and reception services, bring free tea, coffee and refreshments to your desk, help with day-to-day administration such as printing and binding -services, booking taxis and food deliveries. They even have stunning on-site restaurants and rooftop cafes serving breakfast, lunch and dinner. Office space plays such an important role in any business that the KOFISI design and build team are always determined to get in on the ground level of what is required from them within their space. Do they need special facilities? Can their brand be captured in the space? Do they need their own meeting rooms or a private kitchen? Will they need breakout rooms or phone booths? How many people will be working from the office on a regular basis? The list goes on and on, and only once these details have been settled can progress be made. Since starting in this exciting industry, the team have built large spaces and complex facilities that have satisfied every single requirement that their clients have presented them with, even perfecting a laboratory for one of their clients. The team’s ability to deliver these stunning results, however, is realised once all of the information has been gathered. After this, it’s time to make a comprehensive creative brief and to hand that over to the KOFISI in-house interior designers to create something unique for their client. The team’s work is extensive, and their experience in this industry allows the client to get more square footage of workspace than the traditional office model. Because space is shared, businesses can use outdoor flexible desk areas, members lounges, cafes and restaurants Jun22081
5 Best Shared Workspace Provider - East Africa communally, sharing the costs between them. The floorplans for what the team develops is continually revised until total satisfaction is achieved. The team’s ability to deliver genuinely stunning workspaces, unparalleled in their level of sophistication, is almost entirely unique in Africa. It’ll come as no surprise, therefore, that the KOFISI team is in high demand indeed, with a long pipeline of enquiries and requests. With more and more people wanting to work with KOFISI, it’s clear that African multinationals have begun to think about space more clearly. The arrival of Fortune 500 companies in the continent’s cities and towns means that more people are demanding services of an ever-higher standard. Working with landlords, the KOFISI team has been able to educate enterprise in how to make the most out of its square footage, evolving businesses ready for the future. The team is particularly proud of its efforts in disrupting the serviced office model. These once drab and very boring offerings have blossomed into a very exciting and colourful growth industry. There was previous resistance to shared workspaces from landlords, with many not seeing the benefit of “space as a
African Excellence Awards 2022 service”. As time has gone on, however, the realisation of what KOFISI offers has been seen as a major benefit to many. 10% of commercial office space in developed cities is shared, roughly one in ten floors of any new building. The potential of this new space is clear, offering strong footfall as a building establishes itself, creating “tenant tow” and offering substantial commercial upsides to landlords who partner with providers like KOFISI in the building. There has been an increase in those who have wanted to work alongside established brands like KOFISI over the years, as it gives them an extra value proposition to take to potential tenants. Much of these has come through the implementation of “management contract” style arrangements, where both the landlord and the provider collaborate to deliver a space. KOFISI pioneered this way of thinking, delivering the first management contracts in Africa, repurposing older buildings for modern businesses and delivering the largest workspace centres in Africa’s newest additions to the city skylines. That there is a new way of thinking spreading across the continent is entirely down to this intrepid team. With this changing approach at the heart of the firm, it’s little wonder that over the last year, the KOFISI team have been busier than ever before. Now the worst of the pandemic is over, businesses are returning to Africa and need office solutions. They can see that this is a region where there are enormous opportunities. In many ways, the pandemic has presented the team with a host of exciting new prospects, as more and more companies start to embrace alternative ways of working. Whilst previously, it would have been unthinkable not to have a specific office space, the flexibility of shared workspaces has allowed companies to match the flexibility demanded by their employees. As companies have returned to the office, they’ve also seen the need to ensure that they are better suited to the needs of their employees in other ways. By consulting space experts such as those who work for the team at KOFISI, office space has become an investment in itself, designed to act as a more stimulating location to work with a higher quality than ever before. By scaling back on space and removing the capital investment of licensing space, corporate organisations have been able to achieve wonderful things. The idea that keeps KOFISI at the forefront of this exciting new industry is a determination to uncover precisely what inspires people. This is why there has been such strong commitment to hospitality services, for example, which has proven to be wildly successful. The team works tirelessly to ensure that their clients have the best possible experience at all times. When you work with KOFISI, you essentially gain an assistant whose goal is to make sure you can focus on what you do best. When managing your own office, you need to consider maintaining that space. When you use a shared workspace under KOFISI, all of those burdens are lifted.
7 Working with KOFISI massively increases the flexibility of how a business can operate too. The firm’s events service provides clients with incredible outdoor and indoor event spaces for members to hold bespoke and unforgettable conferences and seminars. The team take the strain of offering the whole range of event services that might be required, from planning the event in detail to executing it with aplomb. Catering, marketing and hospitality are all taken care of, provided to a standard which will delight and astound even the most particular of guests. With so much potential at the team’s fingertips, it seems like KOFISI is likely to continue its path of growth for a considerable while yet. Their success in the African Excellence Awards, however, is not their own triumph as of late. The team have recently been nominated as a finalist in the international, SBID Office Design Awards. KOFISI is in the mix with some very well-known office designers. Perhaps, the most significant factor in their nomination is that they were the only shared workplace provider on the African continent to reach this stage. Such an achievement shows not only that the teamaremore than able to hold their own, but that they are able to hold their own against international competition. If African excellence is to be found anywhere, it’s in this incredible company. Looking forward to the future, the team at KOFISI have big plans for the rest of 2022. These plans will see them expanding their reach in Nairobi, Lagos and Dar Es Salaam, as well as in other gateway cities across Africa. The incredible demand for the team’s unique efforts has seen them being approached by some of the largest multi-national corporations who want to expand across the continent. The team at KOFISI see this as a sign that they’re doing something right! KOFISI is an example of a business which is inherently disruptive. The work that the team undertakes has been transformative for many in these transformative times. Office space is a concept which cannot stay still, and the companies and landlords that are aware and able to keep up with these changes are the ones which will continue to thrive in the years to come. For many, it’s clear that KOFISI is going to be a core part of this change, providing the knowledge and expertise to design an office unlike any other and then to maintain it to the highest possible standards. We celebrate the team’s tremendous success in the African Excellence Awards, and cannot wait to see what they do next! Company: KOFISI Name: Georgia Webber Email: [email protected] Best Shared Workspace Provider - East Africa
African Excellence Awards 2022 Best Thermal Packaging & Temperature Monitoring Distribution Specialists - Southern Africa Partnering with prestige companies and serving a variety of medical and biological product industries in the process, Biothermal SA has developed a reputation for ‘keeping its clients cool under pressure’, helping its clients with the safe transport of medical products. This has allowed it to become a true cornerstone of the industry and an indispensable part of the medical distributions process globally, providing safe, efficient, and cost-effective solutions that its clients have lauded as exemplary since day one. The pioneers of safe, quick, and accountable medication, chemical, and biological sample transport, Biothermal SA has become a front-runner of the industry. Boasting a vast roster of professionals with credentials mirroring those of pharmacists, scientists, nurses, and doctors, its well-trained staff put their training to good use in ensuring medical products and substances reach point B from point A in good time and without fuss. Thus, its efforts have endeared it to the pharmaceutical, biological, veterinary, medicinal, perishable, and healthcare sectors, all of which it serves with its exemplary substance travel solutions, earning it the trust and respect of several heavy hitters. Partnering with International prestige companies, in this manner, it has secured working relationships with companies from Pelican Biothermal, MettCover, Tempmate and Bio-Bottle, forging lifelong relationships based on mutual respect and a true dedication to making the medical and biological products industries the best that they can be. Indeed, it works hard to ensure that each of these clients feel settled in their choice to trust it with the products that make up the lifeblood of its business. With validated single and multi-use packaging available, as well as thermal covers and products, data monitoring devices, and combination packaging, its efforts have created an available list of services that provide clients with the safest, most reliable, and temperature-controlled shipping options. In an industry where samples can be the most temperamental – and the most important to worldwide health – Biothermal SA has made itself invaluable to its clients in being one of the best solutions available. Nominally, a full thermal solution gives them the peace of mind to trust that their samples and products are in the best hands, and will reach their destination unscathed, allowing the client in question to get back to the lifesaving research they are conducting. Encouraging its market segment to trust in the professionals, it reassures each of its clients that shipments will be managed correctly. However, it doesn’t want a client to just take its word for it, either. It encourages clients to look to the glowing reviews and testimonials that its clients have left it over the years, as they will be able to see for themselves just what the market think of it and the reasons why so many have chosen to make Biothermal SA their one-stop-shop for cargo in need of strict temperature control and regulation. Moreover, when it comes to customer cargo, it never takes any chances, liaising with them personally to build up a rapport and to identify exactly what the shipment will need for safe delivery to be assured, from temperature to packaging options. This also includes variables such as time sensitivity, validation periods, and timeframes, with level agreements being drawn up on an ad hoc basis for each customer so that the requirements are all well-defined and its operators can follow these instructions to the letter. Thus, operating with such struct attention to detail has ensured it a reputation for global logistics that run smoothly. Providing clients with the most exemplary products and services in thermal packaging, Biothermal SA strives to grant confidence, surety, and excellence across the entire medical infrastructure. Fundamentally, its efforts form a nervous system that links everything together, from the labs to the clinics and hospitals, using its reputation of delivery without scruples to propel itself further into the spotlight and continually create better and more reliable products that its customers can trust. Truly – and in many ways – this company seeks to become a partner and chain link, operating with the strictest tenacity to show that whilst a product is in its care, it will be treated with the utmost respect by using only transport services that have been heavily vetted. Thus, when bringing out a new packaging product, the most important thing will have been the rigorous testing that such a product has gone through before it is made available to the market segment. With all Biothermal SA (Pty) Ltd In an industry where samples can be the most temperamental – and the most important to worldwide health – Biothermal SA has made itself invaluable to its clients in being one of the best solutions available.
9 Biothermal SA (Pty) Ltd the great potential of the medical industry in Africa, and the difference that supporting the interconnectedness of such a thing will make to the continent’s ability to push forward towards further innovation, it has been making a huge difference simply by working with its usual reliability and tenacity. Moreover, it has been making a difference to its industries with its online training sessions. When products are purchased, it will hop on a class with said client, ensuring they get the most amount of usage and benefits from the products that they have purchased. With employees that make up the heart of the business – each of whom boast a comprehensive knowledge of products and sector – it vets its staff carefully for experience and fit. This has allowed it to build up a team of some of the most trustworthy, logistically talented, and medically knowledgeable people in the world, with a vast amount of experience between the team that its clients directly benefit from, and allowing it to deliver life science, healthcare, clinical trial, medical product delivery, pharmaceutical product delivery, global project management, and support for public and private health services both. Company: Biothermal SA (Pty) Ltd Contact: Juanita van Niekerk / JJ van Niekerk Website: www.biothermalsa.co.za
African Excellence Awards 2022 The winners of both the above award and the ‘Award for Excellence in Regional Environmental Rehabilitation 2022’, Scenic Landscaping Limited is an African company pushing for the greatest heights of excellence in landscaping solutions. With expert advice, implementation and consultancy regarding design, installation, and maintenance Scenic Landscaping has already made itself one of the most preferred and sought-after companies in the Seychelles. cenic Landscaping is a company dedicated to the best landscaping, irrigation, and environmental rehabilitation services in its region. Operating out of the Seychelles, it serves its region with diligence and tenacity, serving highprofile clients all over the area in order to create the most impeccable outdoor environments that match even the most specific of criteria for the most particular people. Nominally, it prides itself on delivering the best of the best on time, within budget, and in a manner that goes above and beyond expectations, allowing clients to rely on it for expert services that bring their land a new lease of life. This has allowed it to garner the attention of clients such as the Four Seasons resort Mahe Island, Four seasons at Desroches Island, Club Liberté, Chalets d’Anse Forbans, Anse la Mouche Appartment, Aqua Blu Villa, Angel Fish and more, and maintain them all as long term clients by way of the outstanding services it offers, provided by the most professional people. Being an environmentally conscious company, it offers its professional services to the tourism, residential, commercial, and agricultural markets, taking pride in serving a variety of diverse clients of differing scales in order to ensure everyone in the area has access to impeccable landscaping. Moreover, it concentrates its efforts on making itself as practical as it is appealing, ensuring that every technique, tool, and solution it brings to bear will promote sustainable and healthy environments that can take care of themselves up to a point. In this manner, it focuses on using indigenous plants that are native to the local area and will not impact the surrounding environment in a negative way, with its team members being able to answer any comments, queries, or concerns a client may have by showing them the deep level of experience and knowledge that they each boast. Thus, it has developed an internal environment of the utmost excellence and diligence, one that it extends out to its clients without fail. Having established itself in 2016, it has since secured its place in its industry as a company that delivers reliable, front-running, and expert landscaping all over the Indian Ocean, its management team’s expertise and the consultancy side of the business flourishing just as much as the arm that deals in practical work. Nominally, each branch of the business serves different needs in the same market, effectively making it a one-stop-shop for all things land maintenance, renovation, and rejuvenation. Mr Deoraj Shamah – the Managing Director of Scenic Landscaping – was keen to make this the case, and is proud to say the company has succeeded in this goal. Simply by conducting itself with the utmost excellence and tenacity, his business has reached tremendous heights of success since its founding, propelling his name to the top of the pack in the Seychelles corporate ecosystem proper, as well as further afield in the international field. Critically, as a director, he has been S Best Irrigation & Landscaping Business - Seychelles
11 able to use his intimate knowledge of the Seychelles landscape in order to provide the most specific and fit-to-purpose services in the business. His experience, built up over a long career in the industry prior to starting Scenic Landscaping, has allowed him to build the company into one that can react to and adjust for the common and uncommon environmental challenges put before it by the very nature of working in the Seychelles, as it requires very close attention. Having also become well versed in all manner of different hurdles faced by the landscaping industry and the clients wishing to partake in the services therein, he has also made himself more than capable of batting in a client’s corner logistics wise. After all, when it comes to landscaping solutions, one’s biggest hurdle can sometimes be the logistical, bureaucratic, and employment hurdles that go hand in hand with such design and development goals; this challenges are hurdles that Mr Shamah has made himself a foremost expert in circumventing. He is also versed in the problems that may be presented to a client due to the specific nature of the biome in the archipelago. Although he was born in Mauritius, Mr Shamah has found a true home in the Seychelles, and his love for the region has fuelled the passion with which his company operates. Scenic Landscaping’s consequential understanding of the Indian Ocean and its island nations thusly allows it to serve them with the utmost diligence and tenacity, making a landscaping job into a mutual passion project between its excellent staff and its clients in order to ensure a prevailing element of excitement throughout the process. After all, this, the empathy with which it approaches its clients, and the knowledgeable nature of its staff each form a backbone of the business. Predominantly, the people who make up its ranks are Seychellois themselves, as the people who know the landscape best and tend to it with the most love and care are the people who have grown up on them. Crucially, Scenic Landscaping thanks its staff for their hard work and continuously brilliant service by ensuring each of them have the support and career momentum they need to reach greater heights of success, nurturing their goals and treating everyone as equally important to its success. With its main office on Highway Point on Providence Mahé Island, Scenic Landscaping looks forward to welcoming many more clients through its doors in the future, as well as welcoming back the regulars who have been proud beneficiaries of its work for years. Company: Scenic Landscaping Limited Contact: Deoraj Shamah Website: sceniclandscaping.sc Critically, as a director, he has been able to use his intimate knowledge of the Seychelles landscape in order to provide the most specific and fit-topurpose services in the business. Best Irrigation & Landscaping Business - Seychelles
African Excellence Awards 2022 As one of the largest non-food retailers in Mauritius, Courts Mammouth has become a staple of the communities it becomes a part of. As a cornerstone of such regions, it operates out of various outlets including Rodrigues in order to provide everything for the home under one roof. This includes furniture, electricals, electronic care, and leisure, and all follows the vision of founder Bruce Cohen when he set up the company, beginning with the first store that found its footing near the capital of Mauritius in 1985. Courts Mammouth, a true Mauritius success story, is a chain of stores dedicated to ensuring that families in its areas can always find the household supplies they need under one roof. Fundamentally, it was the first retailer to make such household items affordable to Mauritians with consumer credit, and it has remained a highly reputable brand ever since, one that its families rely on as a part of their usual shopping routine. Having been in operation on the island for over 37 years at this point, the company employs over 850 people across its head offices, warehouses, customer care centres, stores, and training centres, all of whom are on the same page as far as what the most important element of Courts Mammouth is: impeccable customer service. Indeed, this is the most pivotal unifying tenant of the store. Having won the ‘company of the year’, ‘people’s choice’, ‘best business of the year’, ‘best online shopping retailer’ and ‘fastest growing company’ awards, all in quick succession, both revenue and profitability have held up incredibly well over the years it has been in operation, even over the pandemic. This has shown its clients that even in times of serious tumult, Courts Mammouth will be ready and willing to serve them, and happy to do so, as well. With over 22 stores open in the Mauritius region – two of which are in Rodrigues and are major sales channels through which the company can display its products – it can reliably be found all over, and its customers appreciate that wherever in Mauritius they go, it’s likely they won’t be far from what they need. As the cutting-edge leader of innovation and omnichannel shopping, its brick and mortar and ecommerce both have been growing exponentially as of late. Having developed longstanding relationships with fully fledged suppliers, it benefits hugely in terms of lead time, able to get hold of any stock it might need in good time and at short notice, storing such things for distribution in its top of the range warehouse. This warehouse, another part of he impressive commerce kingdom that the founder has set up, has become a true shining beacon for the future of the industry. Often capturing the attention of visitors from other leading companies it offers home delivery on most items via mobile application, and implements new concept store designs to improve service beyond the existing delivery methods on a near daily basis, from same day delivery to next day delivery, click and collect, and Courts Drive services. Thus, over the past three years, this has become paired with its new and expanding product lines to help it maintain its position at the very head of the pack. With homeware, contemporary furniture, technology, transport, leisure, and more its in-store displays and website both provide an easily accessible and user intuitive experience, guided in store by its staff and online by comprehensive web development. As CEO, Andrew Cohen is excited say that he has been able to take over from his father to great success, able to push the company to greater heights since his appointment in 2019. Having organically grown from sales of 44 million US dollars in 2018 to 79 million in 2022, this household name is more well known now than ever before. Moreover, the increase in profitability has also meant for a huge increase in the interest its wider market segment has in it, with peers and partners alike sitting up and taking notice of just how well Courts Mammouth has been doing in the service of its customer base. Its diverse supply chain, vertically integrated business, and development cycle of furniture each makes this company a vastly trusted and top of the range voice in export circles. Led by an experience UK sofa expert, it has acquired one of the largest Mauritian sofa factories as an asset, and this allows it to triple production for export orders. Courts Mammouth also continues to develop other Best Online Shopping Retailer 2022
13 Best Online Shopping Retailer 2022 growth initiatives for the company, leading in retail, manufacture, and fintech in its region in order to take the enterprise forward into the newly emerging epoch resulting from the pandemic. This, of course, will lead to an attractive stock exchange listing, amongst other things. Despite the tumult of the pandemic, therefore, it has strengthened its position in the sector and continues to innovate, looking forward to further contributing to the ever-improving shopping landscape in Mauritius that has significantly transformed customer behaviours since. Customers can take advantage of online offerings, exclusive products, preferred delivery methods, bundle deals, and so much more, keeping the customer in mind at all times and ensuring that each visitor is able to get a full idea of what they’ll be purchasing with 360-degree product views, augmented reality, and more. This creates a seamless shopping experience that has allowed it a position of prominence in the greater African commerce market; it looks forward to continuing to expand this in the future, working hard to be the best of the best and being the first furniture retail store to open within one of Mauritius’ biggest malls. Company: Courts Mammouth Contact: Dora Canarapen Website: courtsmammouth.mu
African Excellence Awards 2022 Kansai Plascon Uganda Ltd (Plascon) is a subsidiary of Japanese company, Kansai Paint and its paint products are widely accepted as the most trusted in Uganda. With a strong dealer network, 600 employees, 14,000 trained painters, and its vast range of trusted products and trendsetting colours, it has become the largest paint company in Uganda with 70% market share. stablished in 2016, Kansai Plascon Uganda Ltd is a brand well-established throughout Africa and it is the largest paint brand in Southern Africa, offering a variety of paints to suit any coating requirement. While its stronghold is in the decorative segment with brands like Plascon WeatherGuard, Vinyl Silk, and Anti-Mosquito Paint, it also offers automotive paints such as Plascryl as well as wood finishes and paints. From project work and home decoration, to preservation of infrastructure and painting of vehicles, Plascon’s superior ranges of paint have become a mainstay in homes, showrooms, roads, and cityscapes all over the region. Plascon’s vision is to become the leading coatings company in Africa while maintaining its ability to serve its customers with the best quality paints. To achieve this, it has made significant investments, boasting a world-class production facility in Namanve with a 200,000L daily capacity, a waste treatment plant, and a team of 600 permanent and contract employees that deliver internationally certified quality paint. It also has a second production plant at 2nd street, industrial area that produces textured products and special colours. The company’s top market position is supported by its strong commitment to R&D, which is done by collaborating with its group of partners both in South Africa and Japan to develop, test and improve products, product formulations, colours, and application processes through basic research, coating development, application development, and colour design. Finally, a rigorous quality control process is followed as per ISO 9001:2015, ISO 14001:2015 and ISO 45001:2018. Plascon’s policies institute strict internal controls which enable the meeting or exceeding of existing local and international health and safety regulations. Overall, the focus of its R&D spending is to establish and retain industry leadership on environmental sustainability. Through annual review of internal policies and performance, it actively seeks to instil a culture of innovation and conservation in every employee. Therefore, Plascon’s professional team strives to meet every need of the architect, developer, asset owner, and contractor through the unique Plascon 360 Partnership Pledge – a comprehensive, tailored service solution offering coatings specifications, application monitoring and maintenance service coordination for property investment portfolios. It is a partnership aimed at providing peace of mind by managing all the customer’s requirements, whether for the interior or exterior. With these projects, the team is involved from inception to completion, making sure the right coating system is specified according to the environment and condition of the building substrates. They will even assist in choosing the correct hues for a building to make sure the colour comes out just right, and can also arrange colour renderings, wet samples, and A4 brushouts to make the final colour selection easier. Additionally, the team pay regular visits to building sites to track progress and workmanship onsite and provide comprehensive reports along the way. This is important in helping to avoid potential pitfalls and ensure the project owner achieves the highest return on investment. Underlying everything the Plascon team does are six core values of integrity, customer focus, accountability, respect, entrepreneurship, and innovation. They work hard to build trust with all stakeholders and continuously strive to understand and exceed customer expectations, while being encouraged to take responsibility for their actions and decisions, which shows commitment to stakeholders. They are also empowered to be problem solvers, building upon innovation and entrepreneurial ideas that have a long-term perspective and provide sustainable value to all its stakeholders. Amounting to all of this is the E Best Paints & Coatings Brand 2022 - Uganda Plascon’s vision is to become the leading coatings company in Africa while maintaining its ability to serve its customers with the best quality paints.
15 respect that its people have for each other, customers and communities, embracing what makes everyone diverse and showing empathy and understanding through learning, teamwork, and cooperation. When it comes to employing new team members, Plascon uses a mix of traditional and modern recruitment techniques. It offers an internship programme for university students and fresh graduates who are seeking industrial training performance. Candidates are assigned mentors to guide them through the entire internship period and are given a retainment opportunity based on their performance. Plascon also encourages internal recruitment as this provides good motivation and engagement for employees and shows its commitment to their career growth. In addition, it conducts external recruitments through niche advertising, head hunting, rehiring of hardworking employees that left on good terms, and interviewing from the talent pool/database. Alongside recruiting new staff, Kansai Plascon’s key focus for the rest of the year will be supporting stakeholders such as the dealer network throughout ongoing branding, tinting machines, promotions, and materials that help them to sell its products. Its relationships with its stakeholders are very important to it, alongside its team continuing to support each other in their goals. This is all while building the company’s reputation as an industry leader in product innovation and colour solutions for its consumers. Plascon also has a big focus on its community and will keep doing its community project work through CSI and the various sport sponsorships. It is a proud partner of Uganda’s national netball team and cricket team, Vipers SC, Arua Hills FC, Entebbe Mongers Rugby Club, as well as various Kingdoms, Bugunda, Bunyoro, and Toro Kingdom. Company: Kansai Plascon Uganda Limited Contact: Santosh Gumte Email: [email protected] Website: www.plascon.africa/uganda Best Paints & Coatings Brand 2022 - Uganda
African Excellence Awards 2022 16 Best IT Sales and Service Provider 2022 – Mozambique & Best SME Datacenter Solutions Company 2022 Founded in 2006 by Mozambican partners, MozComputers aims to provide a sophisticated level of information technology consultancy and maintenance services to small- and mediumsized businesses. As the company achieves not one, but two triumphs within the African Excellence Awards 2022, we take a closer look at how it serves its clients. ozComputers strives to be a leading company offering the best IT solutions in Mozambique, with competitive prices and a high degree of professionalism. Its qualified, competent technicians have extensive experience within the industry which guarantees clients quality service and complete satisfaction in the meeting of their needs. MozComputers provides the most advanced and personalised service along with maintenance plans for companies and individualised entities. The team has the necessary skills to diagnose, implement, advise, and support complex information systems. They get to know each client company so they can understand how their businesses work and plan and innovate solutions as well as apply practices that will automate and improve their critical business processes. They can also offer bespoke IT equipment solutions, including computer systems, hardware, software, and material for upgrade purposes, including a variety of accessories. The team runs several services, programmes, and even operating systems on a single physical device in order to guarantee real benefits for the implementation of data centres, even in environments of small and medium companies. They can also design and implement network infrastructures tailored to the client’s needs including virtualizations using Microsoft Hyper-V or VMWARE. As client businesses grow, MozComputers is able to ensure they have reliable and secure data backups to recover data that is damaged, deleted, lost, or stolen. It can provide numerous tools that help to reduce the risk of loss of business data with simple and cost-effective backup solutions, with the option of encryption. Alongside this, its technical approach and maintenance services ensure that information remains scalable, stable, and secure, using local and cloud-based storage solutions. To ensure consistent high quality across its solutions and services, MozComputers implements a quality policy in everything it does. This involves working with maximum efficiency and effectiveness to satisfy all needs and expectations of clients; continuously promoting the appreciation of employees, ensuring the development of their skills, and encouraging teamwork; fully complying with legal and other obligations applicable to its activities; ensuring compliance with quality objectives; and continuously improving is Quality Management System (QMS) as well as its internal processes. In order to comply with each of these principles, MozComputers is committed to maintaining and improving the effectiveness of its QMS. Over the years, the company has acquired strong experience in technical support, project management, software development, IS/ IT consultancy, network maintenance, and supply of IT equipment. During this journey, it was recognised for excellence in the provision of services and equipment when in Geneva (Switzerland), it was awarded the Century Award, in the Gold category for International Quality. Nationally, its excellence has been recognised with annual PMR awards. It has also seen awards success at the ICT Convention 2008 and 2009, and is proud to be Microsoft’s key partner in Mozambique, with the Microsoft Gold Certified Partner certificate, as well as the Cisco Select Partner, Google Partner, ESET Gold Partner, Lenovo Gold Partner and HP Gold Partner. MozComputers is also certified by the quality standard ISO 9001. Ultimately, it’s easy to see what makes MozComputers the multiaward-winning business it is. Between its top-notch customer service and technical support and its high quality solutions, MozComputers is a force to be reckoned with in the IT industry and we are truly rooting for it as it heads towards continued success. Company: MozComputers Email: [email protected] Website: www.mozcomputers.co.mz M
African Excellence Awards 2022 17 Best Project & Contract Management Company – Seychelles Family business, Blackburn Consulting (Pty) Limited (BCPL), is based in Beau Vallon, on Mahe in Seychelles. For over 30 years, the company has been managing projects and offering a range of property-related services across the three main islands of the archipelago – Mahe, Praslin, and La Digue. We speak to BCPL’s principal director, Daniel Blackburn, to find out more about the company’s services. Back in 1991, RICS accredited chartered surveyor, Daniel Blackburn, founded DBR Blackburn Consulting Services. After working on a large number of public contracts in healthcare and education, as well as consulting on some major private contracts, Daniel took the decision to extend the business to include his family. And, in 2006, Blackburn Consulting (Pty) Limited (BCPL) was born. Today, BCPL provides a full range of consulting services including architecture, quantity surveying, project/contract management, and property valuation services. The company’s clients include financial institutions, telecommunication companies, public enterprises, mortgage companies, and private individuals. Architectural services are end-to-end with BCPL supporting its clients from inception through to the successful completion of the project. Daniel tells us, “Feasibility, outline proposals, scheme design, detail design, and production information are all taken care of. We peg out the footprint of the buildings, fill in the required forms and submit them to the Planning Authority for approval. In our role as project managers, we are there until the end of the defect liability period to make sure everything runs smoothly.” Often, BCPL’s quantity surveying service goes hand in hand with its architectural offering. Daniel explains, “We provide an estimated cost based on the preliminary drawings. This enables clients to quickly understand whether the proposed project is within their budget. Later we revisit the cost estimate based on the final drawings to account for any changes.” Many of the larger construction projects such as public service projects are awarded by tender. Daniel explains that this can be a challenge, “It doesn’t matter how professional or experienced you are, everyone has to compete against each other. More often than not, the lowest-priced tender will win the contract. Unfortunately, that doesn’t encourage those of us in private enterprise to engage with learning organisations and help out young graduates.” But there is hope on the horizon. Daniel is encouraged by the newly introduced guidelines for timesheet recording and performance appraisal. Combined with the appropriate training, he believes these tools will enable employees to become more self-reliant and empowered to make decisions. He says, “This will lead to greater work satisfaction which naturally enhances the quality of services and brings a reduction in supervision and operational costs. It’s exciting that we will be able to deliver more value to our customers.” An MA and MBA graduate of Salford University in the UK, Daniel is the only Seychellois to hold chartered status across four faculties: Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (UK), Fellow Chartered Building Engineers at the Chartered Association of Building Engineers (UK), Fellow Chartered Construction Manager at the Chartered Institute of Building (UK), and Member of Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (UK). This gives the BCPL a clear advantage over its competitors. Looking to the future, the company is planning to set up a branch office in Victoria, Mahe, as well as expanding its offerings to include legal consultancy services. We are excited to see where it goes next. Contact: Daniel B R Blackburn Company: Blackburn Consulting Pty Limited
African Excellence Awards 2022 18 Clinical Trials Organisation of the Year - South Africa Thanks to the work of clinical research organisations, millions of lives have been saved over the years. TREAD Research, South Africa’s leading clinical research organisation, has held hundreds of trials, with its findings contributing to improving the treatments of multiple life-threatening ailments, diseases, and conditions. Since 1998, TREAD Research has been conducting leading pharmaceutically sponsored contract clinical research with the support of the Division of Cardiology, Department of internal medicine, Stellenbosch University. From its home at Tygerberg Hospital, Cape Town, TREAD Research has fronted over 600 trials to date, and has undergone three successful FDA inspections. The organisation was founded and is managed by Professor Lesley Burgess, and under her guidance, TREAD Research has delved into several key therapeutic areas, such as cardiology and cardiology risk factors, vaccines, nephrology, and rheumatology, to name a few. All the research conducted by the organisation is reviewed and approved by either a private or university health research ethics committee. TREAD Research is committed to advancing responsible research – it is a fundamental part of the organisation’s structure – and therefore, TREAD Research has made it its mission to ensure that human research subjects are treated with high standards and respect, and that they are able to provide voluntary, informed consent throughout the trial. To ensure that this takes place, TREAD Research promotes an environment of understanding, especially when it comes to the rights and welfare of its human research participants, and that the participants themselves are well-informed of their research rights. Moreover, TREAD Research thoroughly considers the risks and benefits of every study that takes place. Each of these factors have one key trait in common – transparency. It is imperative that TREAD Research prioritises honesty as participants are placing their trust in the organisation to deliver safe, efficient, and fair trials. Through these elements, TREAD Research has achieved great success, establishing a reputation for excellence. Indeed, the award-winning organisation has been recognised for its unique ability to acquire an abundance of participants, with numbers often exceeding the original targets. For example, the Odyssey study expected to enrol 20 participants; however, over 208 participants were enrolled, resulting in an over-recruitment of 1040%. This isn’t an uncommon sight for TREAD Research – The Trap2 study reached overrecruitment by 1340%. The TREAD Research team works to the best of their ability to maintain these ground-breaking numbers, yet the team is special in its own right; the 36 people team is made up of 30 female members of staff. This is rare within most fields. Furthermore, team members are trained to industry-leading standards, receiving GCP certification, ECG training, IATA certification, and more. TREAD Research believes in continued learning, as such, two of its doctors have now received their BSc (hons) in Pharmacology, one has achieved an MSc in Clinical Research, and a further two have completed the CDE 5-day Advanced Course in Diabetes Care for Health Professionals. The aforementioned accomplishments are only a handful of the teams’ impressive accolades. Such achievements have empowered the organisation to fulfil a plethora of projects, ranging from developing other research sites to developing research training courses in conjunction with Academic advance, a division of the Wits Health Consortium. The courses – which are provided by TREAD Research staff across the country – have been incredibly popular, training approximately 900-1000 people per annum. Consequently, new courses are currently in the works. Contact: Nadine Biscombe Company: TREAD Research Web Address: https://www.tread.co.za/
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