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SAZ marketing and public relations manager Ms Clara Kabade said the aim of the National Annual Quality Awards (NAQA) was to encourage business excellence.
She said this would be achieved through sustained application of productivity and quality principles in small, medium and large, small scale enterprises in Zimbabwe.
Ms Kabade said the annual awards could also be used to provide structured and robust criteria that organisations could use to assess their quality achievements.
“The competition has five categories. Category 1 is for The Company of the Year while category 2 is for Product of the Year award.
The Service of the Year award is in category 3 with category 4 and 5 being for the Exporter of the Year and Sadc/Standardisation, Quality Assurance Accreditation and Metrology (SAQA) individual award of the year respectively,” she said in a statement.
Categories 1 to 4 are open to large-scale enterprises as well as small and medium enterprises.
Ms Kabade said the winners of the Zimbabwean national competition would automatically qualify for the Sadc Annual Quality Awards 2012.
“It is the desire of SAZ to see products and services originating from Zimbabwe competing fiercely in the global market without any hindrances and obstacles pertaining to low quality,” she said.
She said although other national competitions and awards for companies were in existence, unlike NAQA none had the sole objective of promoting quality, productivity and competitiveness.
“Therefore, it would be beneficial to Zimbabwean companies to take advantage of the NAQA competition as a platform for improving quality management and business excellence.
This year’s NAQA come at a critical point when Zimbabwe is working towards social transformation and building a positive image.
NAQA is organised by the SQAM committee which forms an integral part of the national quality infrastructure and is represented by stakeholders that include SAZ, Ministry of Industry and Commerce, Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe and National Laboratory Association of Zimbabwe.
Online Reporter