Staff Reporter
Windhoek-The Namibian Standards Institution (NSI) will host the 5th annual National Quality Awards event on November 23 in Windhoek.
The National Quality Awards is the brainchild of the Cabinet-approved National Quality Policy document of June 1, 1999. The event is part of the government’s drive to establish, develop and enhance a strong and fully functional national quality infrastructure regime and encourage a quality culture in the country.
The aim of the quality awards is to recognize and appreciate industries and enterprises, including the service sector and individuals who perform excellently on quality.
It also honours those who contribute to quality advancement in all sectors of the economy, by having measurements and quality systems, procedures and processes that are in line with local, regional and international practices.
The programme furthermore recognizes individuals who use quality advancement to support national economic development and growth.
The NSI’s general manager for standards development and coordination, Jekonia Haufiku, said the awards further aim to enhance the understanding of quality principles, business methods and all national and international standards that promote quality and competitiveness.
“Through these awards we want to encourage industry to use standards to add value to their products so as to competitively market their products and develop their brands at international level. We also want to encourage individuals with drive and expertise in quality related issues to become active role players in strengthening the local quality infrastructure regime.”
He added that apart from honouring enterprises, the event also recognizes individual contributions towards Namibia’s quest of creating a strong national quality infrastructure regime.
The event aims at attracting broad national representation and participation from across all fourteen regions and all sectors of the economy and across all business spectrums and sizes.
The National Quality Awards consists of five categories, namely Company of the Year, Product of the Year, Service of Year, Exporter of the Year as well as the Individual Quality Award.
All businesses, large or small, are eligible to participate in the first four categories provided they are registered with the Ministry of Industrialisation, Trade and SME Development and have good standing with the Receiver of Revenue. The participating enterprises in the first four categories must be applying standards and provide proof of up-to-date certification against at least one standard.
The NSI has appointed independent judges from the quality fraternity to ensure balanced adjudication, and judges are expected to comply with the code of ethics and conduct for judges. The five national category winners will represent Namibia in the annual SADC Quality Awards event in 2018.