KENYA – Coca-Cola Beverages Africa (CCBA), East African Breweries Limited (EABL) and Fairy Bottling Ltd took home the most prestigious awards for the Training Initiative of the year awards at the recently concluded Africa’s Food Industry Excellence Awards.
At the glamorous evening that saw the industry’s outstanding entries into the several categories of the dairy, milling, beverages among others, the three winners scooped awards for their unique training/capacity building initiatives.
Introduced at this year’s Awards ceremony, the Training Initiative of the Year is meant to celebrate outstanding capacity building initiatives by the food industry. A similar Award is also bestowed on suppliers to the food industry who have introduced capacity building initiatives to improve the capacity of the food industry in the region.
CCBA took the top slot for its technical apprentice program that has been running for about 3 years, and which trains technicians in mechatronics with the stated aim of raising the standards of engineering training in Kenya, based on the South African and German technical programs.
The initiative, which was started as a partnership with CCBA, Krones East Africa and Centurion Systems, consists of a 2 years ‘apprentice’ program at a “master” technician level in which Diploma holders from TVET institutions are admitted.
The initiative has created employment to over 200 technicians as well as gave advanced experience to trainers in the bottling industry.
EABL, the Kenya-based alcoholic beverages manufacturer, also took home a training initiative award for its training program of the departmental energy champions as Certified Energy Managers.
Fairy Bottling Ltd from Zambia took the third position for its water sustainability training initiative award for co-hosting the Alliance for Water Stewardship Masterclass training where the company is spearheading the implementation of international standards on water stewardship in Zambia.
As the first program of its kind in Zambia, the training provided a platform that ensured key players in the water sector promoted the need for responsible water management.
It also launched a Water stewardship awards program by the Water Resource Management Authority of Zambia to increase water sustainability and management.
It also opened various opportunities for the trained team with other water experts on water management within the private sector.
Suppliers shine in training too
Buhler Limited took top honours in the Supplier Training Initiative of the Year for its millers’ training program in Ethiopia, an ongoing initiative that focuses on improving the application and adoption of present day milling technology in the country.
Ingredion Holding LLC came number two in the same category for its on-going program that targets university students who receive training on food starch and hydrocolloid technologies and also offers information on careers and food industry entrepreneurship.
About the Awards
The Africa Food Industry Excellence Awards are Africa’s most prestigious food industry awards,
The Awards celebrate some of the most outstanding people, new products and company initiatives in the food, beverage and milling industry in Africa.
Now in its second year, the Awards ceremony attracted the who-is-who in the food manufacturing, retail and foodservice industry in the region, with over 400 people attending the event, which took place from 14.00 hours till late.
This year’s Awards had a larger and expanded category profile, with new categories (new plants, new products, sustainability and training initiatives) added on top of the individual award categories from the 2017 edition of the Awards.
Countries eligible for the Awards were also expanded beyond Kenya, to include companies from Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Malawi and Ethiopia.
The next edition of the Africa Food Industry Excellence Awards ceremony will be held on July 12, 2019 in Kigali, Rwanda.
Individuals and companies are encouraged to enter their applications for next year’s Awards process, which open on November 1, 2018.
More information about the Awards can be found on www.awards.foodbusinessafrica.com
