By Jejje Muhinde
Eleven outstanding individuals and businesses that excelled providing services in 2018 were awarded by Rwanda Development Board (RDB) on Friday, during the 6th edition of the Business Excellence Awards.
This year’s dinner ceremony which took place at the Kigali Convention Center was attended by over 350 guests including various stakeholders, government officials, business community and partners attending the colorful event.
The 2018 Business Excellence Awards, were held under the theme ’In pursuit of Business Excellence’,
Organized every year, the awards are organized to encourage competitiveness, as well as to celebrate efforts made by the private sector and small medium-sized enterprises and to promote innovation in Rwanda.
Last year ten outstanding individuals and private companies that excelled in providing services were also awarded by the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) during its 5th edition of the Business Excellence Awards.
The eleven categories awarded this year include; Investor of the Year award taken by I&M Bank Rwanda. The commercial bank was selected due to its proven impact of their investment in Rwanda.
The 2018 emerging investor of the year was AFRIPRECAST; Africa Improved Foods was named the Exporter of the Year, Garden Fresh won the 2018 emerging exporter of the year.
Urwibutso Enterprise emerged 2018 Made in Rwanda Enterprise of the year, similarly, East African Granite Industries won the emerging Made in Rwanda Enterprise of the Year.
The 2018 Innovator of the Year was Babyl, Cow Horns Ltd walked away with the young entrepreneur of the year, the service provider of the Year award was scooped by Legacy Clinics and Diagnostics and Get it, was named the women entrepreneur of last year.
Over 100 companies applied for the 2018 RDB Business Excellence Awards.
Commenting on the role of the private sector in Rwanda’s development agenda and how the RDB Excellence Awards tie into RDB’s mission of fast-tracking investment in Rwanda, RDB Chief Executive Officer, Clare Akamanzi, said: “We recognize the role the private sector plays in spearheading Rwanda’s economy and that is why we are celebrating the business community this way. As RDB our main mission is to successfully make Rwanda the investment destination of choice in Africa. Today, Rwanda is ranked 29th in the world in the World Bank Doing Business Report as one of the top 30 countries in the world in terms of ease of doing business. This ranking is proof that Rwanda is making progress towards its goal of becoming the premier destination for investment in our region.”
In his keynote address, the Minister of Infrastructure, Amb. Claver Gatete said that, “When these awards keep getting bigger and better it is a sign that the private sector is growing. However, our government has one core objective; to make the lives of our people better in order to have a more prosperous nation. This cannot be realized without a vibrant private sector performance and financial sector development.”
