East Africa’s Leading Companies In Contest for the Coveted CIO 100 Award

Thurs 14 Oct 2010 - CIO East Africa has announced ore than 350 applications received in a highly contested competition to be named among the CIO 100. The competition will include many of East Africa’s most successful organizations, including Equity Bank, Kenya Airways, DHL, Kenya Power And Lighting Company, Kenya's Ministry of Lands, Bidco Oil Refineries, Management Insurance Uganda, Uganda's Ministry of Agriculture, Uganda Finance Trust, Tanzania Telecommunication Company Ltd, Zanzibar Telecommunications Company Limited, Stanbic Bank  Tanzania, Tanzania Bureau of Standards, Tanzania Electricity Supply Company,  KOBIL Tanzania and Muhimbili National Hospital, just to mention a few.

The CIO 100 Awards honors 100 companies that demonstrate excellence and achievement in IT.

The process of choosing the CIO 100 honorees is systematic and very competitive. “We're looking for companies that are using IT in innovative ways to deliver competitive advantage to the enterprise and enable growth.” says Mr. Harry Hare, Director at CIO East Africa. To be considered for a CIO 100 Award, entrants apply using an application that asks them to identify several different aspects of their achievement. About the top 500 companies were approached through an extensive survey carried out by Synovate in the East African region. CIO East Africa also collects recommendations from its in-house experts, who nominate organizations which are distinguished for their innovative use of IT. Those organizations are also asked to apply.   

A team of judges  drawn from Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania will review the applications and make initial recommendations about each entrant. Continues Mr. Hare, “We debate how each company stacks up against the others in terms of the depth and breadth of their practices, their creativity, the specific measurable results of their achievements, and the take-aways they can provide to our readers.”

Each application will be read by two members of the CIO 100 judging panel, who will rate it on a scale of 1 to 5 for each criterion, from a possible total of 50 points. Final selections will be confirmed by CIO East Africa magazine editors. All scores will be kept confidential. They will not be released publicly, nor will they be discussed with any individual applicants.

About the CIO 100 Symposium & Awards Ceremony

The 2010 East Africa CIO 100 Symposium & Awards Ceremony will be held at the Safari Park Hotel & Casino in Nairobi, Kenya, 16-19 Nov 2010.  We will honor leading companies that demonstrate excellence and achievement in innovation and business value.

Project join us and learn how the 2010 CIO 100 award winners and other IT executives have structured and designed their enterprises.  

Information on the CIO 100 Symposium and Awards Ceremony is available athttp://cio.co.ke/CIO100/index.html.

Contacts

Lisa Amenya

Phone: +254 722 836 569

E-mail: lisa.amenya@cio.co.ke

or 

Nicholle Myles

Phone:  +254 725 216 469

Email:  nicholle.myles@cio.co.ke

CIO East Africa celebrates innovation in IT

CIO East Africa Hosts the Inaugural East Africa CIO 100 Premier Annual Awards Competition  in Nairobi, Kenya

CIO East Africa, the leading magazine for the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry in East Africa, will host the East Africa CIO 100 Premier Annual Awards Competition at Safari Park Hotel in Nairobi, Kenya from 16 - 19 Nov 2010.  The event will draw participants from Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.

The first annual East Africa CIO 100 Awards will celebrate 100 organizations (and the people within them) that are using information technology in innovative ways to deliver business value, whether by creating competitive advantage, optimizing business processes, enabling growth or improving relationships with customers.

“A CIO 100 Award is an acknowledged mark of enterprise excellence. For more than 24 years, the CIO 100 Awards has honored 100 companies each year that demonstrate excellence and achievement in IT across the globe,” said Harry Hare, the Editorial Director of CIO East Africa. The inaugural East Africa CIO 100 Awards is the first time that companies from Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania will be distinguished for their innovative use of IT.

CIO 100 recognizes organizations that have taken risks on emerging technology or deployed the tried-and-true in a new way. Maybe an organization has built a better business process or fostered closer collaboration. Or an organization found ways to get more from existing customers, to pursue new markets, to save money or to make more. CIO is an opportunity for businesses to share with their peers about the technology innovations that have enabled or led the way to greater success for their organization.

Mr Hare said, to be selected, applicants must show not only that they have executed their project well, but that they have done so in uncommon, innovative ways: “…pioneering a new technology, applying a familiar technology to a new purpose, setting the bar higher for competitors.” And they must demonstrate business value, not just IT benefits.

CIO East Africa has partnered with Synnovate who will take the interested participants through the survey process. Synnovate is a global leader in research with extensive experience and an impressive client base in the region. 

“This is the first initiative of its kind within this sector and we are very excited to partner with regional professional organisations such as Synnovate and Delloite to make sure that the quality of the outcome is comparable to the US edition of CIO 100,” Mr. Hare continued.

To be eligible, companies will need to have an annual turn over of at least US$650,000 (approximately Kshs. 50 million), be tax compliant, and in operation for at least 3 years. The organization can be drawn from the private sector, public sector or any non governmental organizations. The closing date for all applications is Fri 1 Oct 2010.

The East Africa CIO 100 Premier Annual Symposium & Awards Ceremony will be held at Safari Park Hotel, Nairobi, Kenya from 16 - 19 Nov 2010.  The CIO 100  Premier Annual Awards Competition will honor leading companies that demonstrate excellence and achievement in innovation and business value.

Additional information on the CIO 100 Premier Annual Awards Competition is available at www.cio.co.ke.

About CIO East Africa

CIO EAST AFRICA is the leading magazine for the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry in East Africa, published by African eDevelopment Resource Centre in conjunction with the International Data Group (IDG), a world-renowned publisher of legendary brands.

The publication highlights ICT investment opportunities, innovation, intellectual property and trends of the converging technologies. Through such authoritative information, the investors get business leads and end-users make informed choices.

More than ever before, ICT has become an integral part of a company’s business strategy, and therefore, the CIO editions makes it possible for companies to tap into new business segments and optimize on processes shared in the publication.