East Africa celebrates the CIO100 finalists and winners

East Africa’s CIO 100 regional winners from Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda — vetted from an average of 550 CIO Survey registrants were yesterday celebrated at a pompous 10^th Anniversary of CIO East Africa awards gala hosted at Enashipai Resort in Naivasha, Kenya.

The organizations representing exemplary working, scale-able solutions that harness technology to include more people in the digital economy and broaden opportunity of their corporate entities were lauded for their creative and sustainable initiatives.

According to Harry Hare, Publisher and Chairman of CIO East Africa the top honorees at the regional CIO Awards will be listed for the first time in the CIO 200 a global organization based in the United States of America. This follows an agreement signed between CIO East Africa and CIO200 on the week leading to the East Africa CIO100 Symposium & Awards.

Reckoned as East Africa’s most powerful executive-level IT media brand providing insight into business technology leadership, the event’s gala that was the climax of the 2018 CIO100 Symposium & Awards celebrated 100 organizations and their IT teams for driving business value and growth through digital transformation.

“The organisations we are honouring today represent the best technology users in our region. They all did something right, something that impressed our judges,”

Muchemi Wambugu, a lead judge at CIO 100 Symposium .

In a colorful ceremony spiced with a tinge of African soundtracks the industry players also celebrated outstanding organizations by coveting them with Plus One Award. George Njuguna, CIO HF Group was declared the East Africa’s 2018 CIO of the Year.

Harry Hare, CIO East Africa Publisher and Chairman flanked by Andrew Karanja, Director Africa eDevelopment presents the 2018 CIO of the Year top award to George Njuguna, CIO HF Group.

As the HF Group’s CIO, part of Njuguna’s charge has been to create a vision, direction and delivery program for the company’s digital transformation agenda. He noted that this required him to find a balance between advancing ideas that deliver on the evolving business needs, high customer expectations while delivering on shareholder value. “In tandem, I must ensure that core operations remain stable and do not deter us from focusing on the strategic objectives,” he added.

To crown the celebration of being announced the CIO of Year, George Njuguna and his IT team expressed their joy and gratitude through prayers after receiving the coveted East Africa’s Award.

Other companies honored for their profound contributions in the business technology space and their outstanding leadership at the magnanimous annual ceremony launched eight years ago emerged from the sectors of Transport, Manufacturing, Health, Education, Hospitality, Infrastructure and Insurance. The entities recognized have been over the last one year been helping to catalyze the transition to a high-growth and high-opportunity digital economy at corporate level and their impact has by extension been felt within the region.

The CIO awards gala, attended by regional experts, prominent members of academia, leading entrepreneurs and business leaders, varied project funders and the media was the culmination of a year-long search for organizations that are impacting work in enterprises today and the future of work.

“As the event organiser’s, we believe that inclusive innovation is an economic and moral imperative, and that the key question of our era isn’t what technology is going to do to our economy and society, but what we will do with technology,” Laura Chite, CEO, CIO East Africa said.

The annual CIO 100 Awards celebrate 100 organizations (and the people within them) who 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.

“The organisations we are honouring today represent the best technology users in our region. They all did something right, something that impressed our judges,” asserted Muchemi Wambugu, a lead judge in the 2018 CIO Awards Panel who asserted that the CIO100 finalists and winners had used technology in innovative ways to deliver on business value in their organizations.

The CIO 100 AWARD is an acknowledged mark of enterprise excellence. It emerges as a mark given to companies rather and outstanding individuals who have made remarkable strides in their organizations and beyond. It therefore serves as an honor to everyone who take part in the organization’s project or an initiative that the entire team can pride in.

Here is a breakdown of the 2018 top 12 honorees recognized for excellence and performing the best in their respective industries: –

SPECIAL AWARDS

These are three distinguished awards recognizing those who have shown exceptional contribution in the industry: –

CIO OF THE YEAR 2018 | George Njuguna, CIO, HF Group

OVERALL COMPANY WINNER | Kenya Airways