NAIROBI – It was a double win for Kenya Airways as it emerged overall winner of the 2014 CIO 100 awards and its chief information officer, Mr Kevin Kinyanjui, named the CIO of the year. The CIO 100 event, which took place over the weekend at the Enashipai Resort, also saw Savanna Cement take up the runners up position.
The awards were organized by PwC and CIO East Africa and attracted entries from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Congo and Burundi. They celebrate organizations that have excelled at incorporating technology in their business Strategies. KQ won for its project to improve baggage handling infrastructure through centralisation of information to reduce cases of baggage loss, delays and damage. In the country awards category, the Kampala capital City Authority won for Uganda, while I&M Bank Rwanda and the Ministry of Home Affairs-National ID Authority won for Rwanda and Tanzania respectively.
The Kenya National Library Services was feted in the education sector for its efforts to convert libraries to e-learning centres and hubs. Kentrade took home the public sector award while the National Transport and Safety Authority won in the transport sector. Kili.com won the special award while President Uhuru Kenyatta was crowned the 2014 leader of year.
Congratulating the Winners, CIO East Africa’s Director, Andrew Karanja commended the high number of entries received this year. “It is encouraging to note that more organisations have realized the value of incorporating IT in their business strategies. The public sector uptake of ICT is especially on an upward trend judging from the entries received.” The list was arrived at after weeks of sifting through the applications by a PwC led panel. Both private and public sectors had been well represented on this list. the Nairobi City Council was listed among the top 100 organisations in East Africa for its efforts to introduce the e-payment system. Last year, Royal Media Services won the CIO 100 awards.
“It is clear that if East Africa wants to expand the economic successes then there must be an improvement to the services offered by various organizations. Application of manual service as it were cannot effectively meet the demands for the growing populations,” observed PwC’s partner Muchemi Wambugu. More than 300 IT enthusiast from the East Africa region participated in this year’s CIO 100 event.
The event was preceded by a two days symposium which saw more than thirty industry leaders and key players take to the stage to lead discussions on the trending innovations in the region.
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