Rwanda Development Board (RDB) yesterday launched the fifth edition of Rwanda Business Excellence Awards that recognises businesses that have demonstrated excellence, and have significantly contributed to the country’s economic transformation.

The Rwanda Business Excellence Awards are aimed at acknowledging, and celebrating efforts made by local companies in promoting a sustainable and prosperous economy, according to RDB.

Briefing the media on the awards, Clare Akamanzi, the RDB chief executive, said the primary goal of the awards is to encourage competitiveness among private sector enterprises and promote an innovative business culture in the country.

"We believe so much that one good business should be rewarded. If investors have responded to our call to do business in Rwanda, and have demonstrated excellence, they should be recognised. We also believe if the business community share their best practices, it should help increase competitiveness in the business sector,” she said.

Akamanzi said Rwanda believes that the culture of awarding and recognising good performance will help improve overall performance, as well as improve the standards of doing business in the country.

The awards had been suspended for three years and officials explained that it was because the concept of the awards was previously too broad, and that they wanted to narrow it down to ensure the approach was precise and targets key sectors.

"Before we suspended the awards, it was about everything you can ever think of. It was difficult to get investors in some sectors, and we realised it was not a good idea to do everything in general, rather we needed to focus. Focusing meant being strategic about who we will reward and for what reasons,” Akamanzi said, adding that they wanted to make the awards contribute more to the development of the government’s policy to promote excellence.

The awards ceremony is slated for January under eight categories covering key economic sectors in the country.

According to RDB chief operating officer, Emmanuel Hategeka, both local and foreign companies that invested in Rwanda will have the opportunity to contest for awards in all categories.

This time round they will not only focus on corporate companies but also small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) as part of encouraging business development.

Hategeka called on the entire business community to participate in the competition, adding that the application process will close on December 10.

Awards that will be given out include the investor of the year, exporter of the year, innovator of the year, woman entrepreneur of the year, and young entrepreneur of the year.

The awards will also be awarded in the categories of Made-in-Rwanda, customer and industrial products, as well as services.

Those who stand a chance to win are those whose businesses have created decent and quality jobs, demonstrated innovation, and have evidence of having contributed to value addition in the business sector.

"We shall also be looking at the value of the investment project, sustainability, local content, technology promotion, and the youth promotion component,” Hategeka said.

RDB has initiated an online platform, http://www.rdb.rw/business-excellence-awards, that enables those who want to contest to sign up and make submissions.

The institution has also partnered with Deloitte, an independent firm that will help in selection process of the winners.

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