•Voting was responsible for sixty-five percentage (65%) points and supporting evidence responsible for 35% in the final selection process for the 2022 winners.
•The African Business Leadership Awards (ABLA) 2022 is now in its seventh edition.
Image: FILE
Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho has been named Africa's Business-Friendly Governor of the Year by the African Leadership Magazine.
Governor Joho tied at the top position with Ifeanyi Okowa, Governor of Delta State, Nigeria, while David Makhura, Premier of Gauteng province, South Africa was in the runner up position.
“All winners and their runners-up shall be presented with an award trophy and formally decorated with the instruments of the honour at the 7th Africa Summit – London 2022, which is scheduled to hold at the House of Lords of the United Kingdom on July 4,” the magazine reported on its website.
Selection of the winners, the magazine notes, included voting online and submission of evidence.
According to the magazine “Voting was responsible for sixty-five percentage (65 per cent) points and supporting evidence responsible for 35 per cent in the final selection process for the 2022 winners.”
Asha Abdi, the Mombasa County Chief Officer for Trade, Tourism and Investment has welcomed the recognition, saying the county leadership has been working to ensure a business-friendly environment.
“This is good news. The award is a recognition of various reforms we have put in place as Mombasa County in the past 10 years. Ours is the most business-friendly county not only in Kenya but clearly even in Africa,” she said.
Abdi said the county had recalibrated itself from just a tourist destination into a Meetings Incentives Conferences & Exhibitions (MICE) hub.
“As a result of the digital transformation, 90 percent of the Mombasa County business processes have been automated. This makes the county one of the most digitised in the country,” says Abdi.
Other Kenyans and Kenyan institutions on the list include James Githii Mburu, the CEO of the Kenya Revenue Authority. He was named the African CEO of the Year. The Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority, Kenya- has also been named as the Energy Regulator of the Year.
The African Business Leadership Awards (ABLA) 2022 is now in its seventh edition.
In 2020, Nakuru Governor Lee Kinyanjui was named the Business-Friendly Governor of the Year.
Kinyanjui was among three Kenyans feted by the African Leadership Magazine for their exceptional leadership practices and outstanding achievements in Africa's business landscape.
Other winners include KenGen CEO Rebecca Miano - who bagged the African Inspirational Business Leadership Award, and Equity Bank CEO James Mwangi, who was announced the winner in the African CEO of the Year Category.
The African Business Leadership Awards is a prestigious recognition event to reward exceptional corporate practices and outstanding achievers in Africa’s business landscape and its private sector.