Safaricom Scoops Top Award Yet Again

Safaricom emerged the overall winner for the third year running during the 2009 CEO's Most Respected Company (East Africa) awards, which were dominated by mobile telephone service providers.

Safaricom, which won the award in 2007 and 2008, beat Kenya Airways, the 2005 and 2006 overall winner, to second place ahead of pan-African mobile phone operator, MTN, during the awards, whose theme was 'Rethinking and Reshaping the New Normal'.

The dominance of the mobile operators in the 10th anniversary of the survey organised by auditing firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers, was such that they were the winners of the top awards in all the five categories on offer -- one overall and four country awards.

It is only the Serena Group, KQ, Bidco Oil Refineries Ltd, East African Breweries Ltd, Tanzania Breweries and Bralirwa Breweries of Rwanda that gave the telecoms a run for their money.

"It is because they (mobile operators) are in a new sector with many opportunities amidst fierce competition," Mr Charles Muchene, survey director and partner at PWC Kenya, told the Daily Nation in an interview on Saturday night at a Nairobi hotel, during the awards gala dinner.

He said it is a trend that started three years ago when Safaricom won the first overall title to break the grip of EABL, which had won the first five editions (2000 to 2004) of the awards and KQ, which won the subsequent two.

MTN Uganda CEO, Themba Khumalo, concurred: "We operate in a very competitive sector, which means we have to be very innovative to keep pace with the changes in the market and an ever-increasingly demanding customer."

"Unlike other sectors that, for example, have increased their prices, mobile operators have responded to the needs of the customers, such as at our recent launch of the smallest airtime denomination of Sh5," said Safaricom chief commercial officer, Peter Arina, who represented company CEO, Michael Joseph, at the awards.

According to Mr Muchene, for the first time, the quality of products and services featured as the key driver of respect among the surveyed CEOs followed by expansion into new markets and market leadership.

Safaricom, East Africa's most profitable company, also led the operators by winning the Kenya country award, which saw KQ coming second ahead of EABL. Besides emerging third overall in the regional category, MTN, made a clean sweep in the Uganda and Rwanda country awards.

In Uganda, MTN Uganda beat Serena Hotel to second place followed by Bidco Uganda during the awards, which was first introduced into East Africa in 2000 by PWC to celebrate business excellence across the region.

Across the border in Rwanda, which held its inaugural country awards last year, MTN emerged the Most Respected Company with another brewer, Bralirwa Breweries, coming second and Serena third.

"The winning companies are generally those that have not just survived the economic downturn, but managed to thrive," Mr Muchene said in reference to the ongoing global economic crisis, "We are seeing some light at the end of the tunnel for the broader business community."

Historic signing

The CEOs said the historic signing of the long-awaited East African Community Common Market Protocol on Friday moves the region towards a strong integrated market.

"We are also seeing positive signs in terms of economic growth. I have no doubt the CEO's Most Respected Companies will be at the forefront in making both these visions a reality," said the survey director.

Nation Media Group CEO, Linus Gitahi, said the signing of the protocol and coming of the fibre optic cables will change the region's fortunes.

"Businesses must evolve to effectively compete in the region because there is going to be an explosion of economic opportunities in the next decade, but competition from both within and outside the region will also get stiffer," said Mr Gitahi.

The survey is run independently by research firm, Synovate, with NMG as the media partner.

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