Uganda Marketers Society (UMS) on Friday hosted the inaugural Pearl of Africa Customer Excellence Awards at the Kampala Serena Hotel following the launch in October 2021.
The Pearl of Africa Customer Excellence Awards are the first of the kind in Uganda aimed at rewarding and acknowledging companies showcasing excellent customer care in their business operations.
The awards were organized by Uganda Marketers Society with support from Capital One Group (communications partners), AJUA (research partners), HLB Jim Roberts and Associates (Audit firm), Owaraga, Opto Media, Uganda Breweries Limited, Pepsi, Vision Group, Nation Media, Optimus Events, and Serena Hotel.
The initiative cuts across various industries ranging from Finance, FMCG, Tech, Health, and Media with a deliberate focus on MSMEs. It kicked off in November last year, with public nominations of brands and personalities that showcase excellent customer service.
The Pearl of Africa Customer Excellence Awards is recognizing brands and personalities championing excellent customer experience in eight categories; Best CX Cultural Adaptation Award, Best CX Training, and Organisational Learning Award, Best Customer Retention Strategy and Execution, Best Use of Digital, Best Use of Customer Insights and Feedback, Best Customer Support, Customer Excellence Champion of the year, Customer Experience Team of the Year and the UMS Honorary Award of the Year.
According to the UMS President, Sharon Kiggundu, the industry has witnessed organizations that prioritize customer experience steadily rise to the pinnacle of their success.
‘As the leading organization for marketers in Uganda, our core mandate is to promote professional marketing standards and practices in the industry. We understand that a brand’s reputation is just as important, if not, even more important than the products and services offered. We are celebrating organizations delivering exceptional customer experience because we want to assert the importance of customer experience as a key driver for long-term business growth,’ she said.
Some ofthe brands that claimed top positions in the awards include MTN, Rocket Health, Café Javas, NSSF, Vision Group, Datamine, NCBA, Harris International, Roke Telkom, Vision Group, and Jumia.
Here are the detailed results per category;
| Rankings | ||||
| Category | Winner | 1st runner up | 2nd runner up | |
| 1. | Customer Excellence Champion of the year | Gloria Daru (MTN) | Sandra Arinaitwe (Rocket Health) | Leah Namuleme (NCBA) |
| 2. | Best CX Team of the year | Rocket Health | Harris International | Roke Telkom |
| 3. | Customer Support | MTN | Rocket Health | NCBA |
| 4. | Best Use of Customer Insights and Feedback | Rocket Health | Harris International | Datamine |
| 5. | Best Use of Digital Tech | MTN | Rocket Health | Jumia |
| 6. | Best Customer Retention Campaign | Rocket Health | Harris International | Roke Telecom |
| 7. | Best CX Training & Organization Learning Award | CJ’s | NSSF | Rocket Health |
| 8. | Best CX Cultural Adaptation Award | Rocket Health | Harris International | Vision Group |
According to Julius Tumuhimbise, the managing partner at HLB Jim Roberts and Associates, a leading auditing and consulting firm that conducted the audit of the submissions, submitted votes were carefully tallied and audited based on strict criteria.
‘Nominations were held between 8th October 2021- 8th November 2021, after which nominees were shortlisted for the public to cast their votes. Upon completion of the voting process, UMS wrote to all nominees informing them of their nominations and requesting a justification of the work for which they were nominated. This was to ensure that the nomination was backed up by evidence,’ he said.
Dr. Dorothy Kyeyune Founder, Mwoyo Experience delivers a keynote address at the Inaugural Pearl of Africa Customer Excellence Awards
Dr. Dorothy Kyeyune, who delivered the keynote emphasized that customer excellence ought to be made a culture across all public and private sectors as it is a critical benchmark to every organization’s growth and ultimate success.
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