"The inclusion of Rwanda into the East African community and the growing realisation that we can achieve more as a block will stand us in good stead in what is clearly a dynamic marketplace,” Linus Gitahi, Group CEO Nation Media Group.

MTN Rwanda has emerged the nation’s ‘Most Respected Company’ in an award ceremony that  unveiled East Africa’s seven highly valued companies, over the weekend.

The country’s leading mobile telecommunication company was selected by at least 150 Chief Executive Officers (CEO)’s from Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda who were invited to participate in the Nation Media Group (NMG) survey that was audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

In the highly celebrated awards that saw Rwanda being included for the first time, the country’s leading beverage and brewery company Bralirwa Breweries emerged the second most respected in Rwanda and Kigali Serena Hotel came third.

The findings for this year’s survey which is now in its ninth year running, were announced at a colorful fete at the Serena Hotel in Kampala on Friday evening, attended by the region’s top CEOs.

"The inclusion of Rwanda into the East African community and the growing realisation that we can achieve more as a block will stand us in good stead in what is clearly a dynamic marketplace,” said Linus Gitahi, Group CEO Nation Media Group.

"The current global economic crisis presents the emerging markets with an opportunity to depend on and collaborate more with each other, reducing the traditional dependency on the developed markets,” he added.

Rwanda according to the survey reflected similar trends with the other East African countries telecommunication sector dominating the top position.  InKampala MTN Uganda scooped the top position while Safaricom led the way in Kenya.

Vodacom another telecom company was Tanzania’s third most respected company.

MTN Rwanda’s CEO Themba Khumalo said, "It is a great honor for MTN Rwanda to be recognised as the ‘Most Respected Company in Rwanda’ especially now when we are commencing celebrations to mark 10 years of operation in the country.”

Khumalo described the award as very humbling recognition that MTN Rwanda shall treasure. The CEO reiterated MTN Rwanda’s commitment to providing the best communication service to the people of Rwanda

MTN Rwanda has registered over a million mobile phone subscribers with a market share of over 90 percent.

Safaricom Kenya the largest provider of mobile services in Kenya,  which emerged as last year’s regional most respected beat Kenya Airways and Zain, to be the region’s strongest brand with high market presence, product innovation and expansion into new markets.

There were seven awards in total, one per country and one overall East Africa award which Safaricom won.  Equity Bank emerged third in Kenya and was the only financial services firm to be nominated among top three country awards in East Africa. 

Precision Air emerged the most respected company in Tanzania while IPP Media, the only media firm to be nominated across the region, emerged second and Vodacom Tanzania third.

This year’s theme was "Growth in a changing market”, and most of the CEOs attached greatest importance to Brand and Corporate reputation as well as adaptability to change as key in driving their business growth.

This year’s awards included a round table session where the CEOs deliberated the survey findings as well as several issues that they were facing across the region.

The CEOs most respect company survey is a peer to peer review among company executives and business leaders across East Africa, where they are asked to vote for the companies they most respect in the region and in each of the four countries.

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