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Business Reporter 

TELECOMMUNICATIONS giant, Econet Wireless Zimbabwe (EWZ), and its sister company Cassava Smartech Zimbabwe (Cassava), have clinched top business leadership and merit awards.

The awards were announced in separate events held by three leading professional bodies – the Institute of Personnel Management of Zimbabwe (IPMZ), the Zimbabwe Institute of Management (ZIM) and the Institute of Public Relations and Communications Zimbabwe (IPRCZ) last week.

EWZ Group chief executive officer, Dr Douglas Mboweni, whose organisation directly employs more than 2 000 people, was named the IPMZ’s Best CEO of the Year with a human resources orientation, while Cassava CEO, Mr Eddie Chibi, was awarded Zimbabwe’s prestigious businessman of the year award.

Cassava Smartech was spun off from Econet Wireless Zimbabwe and separately listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange in December 2018. It has since grown to be one of the largest diversified companies listed on the local bourse, with interests in fintech, insurtech, agritech, healthtech and on-demand platform-based services.

Econet has, for close to three years now, partnered with the global professional networking company LinkedIn to provide cutting-edge online learning for its staff, among other employee and talent development initiatives and programmes.

Speaking on the award, Dr Mboweni commended Econet’s staff for their dedication and for helping the organization thrive under very challenging conditions.

“Despite the challenging and competitive operating environment, our staff have remained committed to the success of the group, and continue to do so professionally and with excellence.

“I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge and commend their immense contribution to our business,” he said.

“As an organisation that thrives on innovation and operates in a fast-changing technology industry environment, we will continue to invest in developing our employees’ skills and capabilities, as well as investing in their personal career development and growth,” Dr Mboweni added.

Meanwhile, Mr Chibi thanked the Zimbabwe Institute of Management for their recognition, saying he owed the conferred success to several stakeholders, in particular his management and staff.

“We would not be where we are today without the support of our board and investors, without the hard work and dedication of our management teams and staff, and without the loyalty and continued support of our customers,” said Mr Chibi.

Cassava Smartech Zimbabwe’s business portfolio includes EcoCash, the country’s largest mobile money platform; Steward Bank, the largest local bank by customer accounts; mobile insurance concerns EcoSure and Moovah, EcoFarmer, Vaya Technologies Zimbabwe and Maisha Health, among others.

Last week, Econet also scooped the Best (Corporate) Innovation Campaign at the Public Relations and Communication Excellence Awards 2020 hosted by the IPRCZ.

The Econet group and its leadership this year received a number of local and international awards in recognition of the business’ positive performance and its contribution to various social and economic impact programmes.

These include the prestigious Old Mutual and the Top Companies Award; the COVID-19 Business Hero Award, conferred by the African Business Leadership Awards; the Nedbank Zimbabwe and Alpha Media Holding’s top Sustainability Award for the 2020 Quoted Company’s Survey, and the Distinguished Industry Achievement Award conferred by the International Industrial Engineering and Operations Management Society.