NAIROBI, Kenya
CIO East Africa, the publisher of the CIO magazine and organizer of the CIO East Africa Awards, has announced plans for regional expansion. Mr Andrew Karanja, the director of CIO East Africa, said the company aims to have branches in all the five countries that form the East African Community.
This, he said, would increase and facilitate better services to its clients in the entire region. “At the moment, CIO looks more Kenyan but we gradually need to expand it and venture in the entire region,” Mr. Karanja when the company announced the 2013 CIO East Africa Awards Competition at the Laico Regency Hotel, Nairobi, today.
He said ICT has become an integral part of a company’s business strategy and CIO is pushing to make it possible for companies to tap into business segments and optimize processes shared in its publications in the entire region. This year’s awards is the third annual event in which CIO recognises a mark of IT excellence.
This is also a celebration of 100 organisations and people within them that are using technology in innovative ways to deliver business value. The top 100 companies selected will be presented with awards and make presentations to showcase their companies’ achievements. This year’s event will be held next month in Kigali, Rwanda, at the Serena Hotel from 10th to 12th July.
In attendance at the announcement was Mr. Gilbert Saggia, Country Manager, Oracle, Phillip Obondy, Channel Manager, Cyber Roam, Lilly Kariuki, Country Manager, COSEKE Limited and Sailash Savani, CEO, Compulynx. This is the only competition in Esat Africa that awards excellence in the execution of IT projects and recognizes the organizations and the people behind those projects.
The competition, themed Value creation through innovation is expected to attract over 300 participants across East Africa. According to Harry Hare, Director, CIO East Africa, this year’s survey attracted over 350 companies that intend to make entries for various IT innovations. “This competition is the largest ICT competition awards in Africa and is set to feature the most successful companies in IT innovation from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Rwanda. The award provides a networking platform for IT buyers and recognizes industry leaders,” he added.
Mr Hare further noted that a regional panel of judges has been selected for the judging process which will commence later this week. Hosted in other countries such as the US, Canada, Sweden, Australia, Singapore, Vietnam and Hungary, the CIO100 Annual Awards is a global recognition. It is an acknowledged mark of excellence in enterprise IT. According to a survey by CIO East Africa magazine as per the previous year’s award ceremonies, CIO 100 Annual Awards is among the top 10 most influential corporate events in Africa.
Past winners
Previous awards saw KENET emerge the overall winner through their project that seeks to provide Internet connectivity to educational institutions. The first runner up at the awards was Eat Out Kenya which was recognised for their project that has seen many restaurants having an online presence where diners can browse through menus and make restaurant bookings.
Nakumatt Holdings scooped the second runners up award. Started in July 2005, Nakumatt’s winning project was titled “IT enabled miscellaneous products and services”. The project offers services such as: electronic airtime distribution and dispensing from Tills; Utility bill collection for services such as Safaricom’s Post Paid and Nairobi Water; Cash back (bank withdrawal) at tills for Equity Customers.
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