Ten companies emerged winners of the ‘Great Place To Work (GPTW) Nigeria awards, over the weekend. These awards include: the Bright Spots award, a new category of awards which was introduced to recognise those organisations that are engaging with their employees, customers and communities in deep and authentic ways. Three organisations were recognised for this award; Courteville Business Solutions, SANOFI Healthcare and iSON BPO.
Eight organisations made it to the list of Best Companies to Work for in Nigeria 2016. The organisations include: EMC Information System Nigeria Limited, which came tops, Courteville Business Solutions, which also won in the Bright Spots Award category, came second in the Best Companies to Work for in Nigeria. Other companies thst made the list include: Guinness Nigeria which emerged in the third place position, SC Johnson took the fourth position; Microsoft Nigeria, Poise Nigeria; Konga.com, and Chemical and Allied Products, in that order.
This year’s edition, the fourth in the series, also had the “Best Practices Awards”. These are companies that delivered excellence in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), People Leadership, Employee Wellness, and introducing a new category under this, the organisation that caters to the needs of Millennials.
iSON Group, one of the winners in the Bright Sport Awards category, also won the award for excellence in CSR, Konga.com, which came seventh in the Best Companies to Work for in Nigeria, smiled home with the Best Company to work for Millennials. Again, Courteville Business Solutions got the award for excellence in People Leadership while Guinness Nigeria Plc won the award for delivering excellence in Employees’ Wellness.
The Minister for Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Okechukwu Enelamah, who was the Keynote Speaker at the event, described the award as “a welcome initiative and an avenue for inspiring greatness,” and challenged organisations to” rise beyond the ordinary to pursue excellence.”
While commending Great Place To Work Nigeria for the initiative, Enelamah congratulated all the winners and awardees, pointing out that it was his desire that the awardees will see the awards, not as an excuse to bask in their accomplishment, but as a challenge to do more and even better and to be role models for others.
“Individuals, brands and even governments rise and fall on the strength of the trust that people repose in them. The world’s most valuable companies hold much of that value to what experts call brand equity, which in lay man’s term is simply a reflection of the quality of trust they engender in their stakeholders,” Enelamah said.
He said the Federal Government has prioritised job creation and enhanced productivity, including the provision of an enabling environment for the private sector to thrive in form of
consistent policies and infrastructure. He also said his ministry was working to provide the support Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) need to thrive, especially
since they constitute over 60 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The support, he said, will entail training, capacity building and ultimately financing. “Finally we will also seek to proactively attract investment both local and international,” he added.
The Chairman of Great Place To Work, Nigeria, Ghandi Olaoye, said: “A Great Place To Work is one where employees trust those they work for, take pride in the work they do, enjoy credibility of management, respect each other and take pride in the organisation they work for”.
Olaoye, who was represented by a Board member, Kunle Malomo, pointed out that the companies that were recognised were those that have gone over and above, not just the rating by the Nigerian standard, but by the global ratings of Great Place To Work, based in San Francisco, in the US. He said the companies that were rated by their employees through a Trust Index and Culture Audit developed by the organisation, met the minimum requirements of being rated as best workplaces in the country
