GIANT beverages maker, Delta Corporation, has scooped the prestigious Top Companies Survey (TCS) award for the second year in a row, after once again being adjudged the best performing company on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange.
Diversified investment group, Innscor Africa, was the first runner-up, while gold producer Caledonia Mining was second runner-up. Mashonaland Holdings walked away with the best tangible investor return award. Nedbank Zimbabwe won the best banking institution, while Standard Chartered Bank came second.
Caledonia Mining also won the special mention award which recognises outstanding achievements or contributions to a current topical issue. Quality Insurance was crowned the Top Short-term insurer, while Ecosure went away with the Top Life Assurer. The Top Short-Term reinsurer gong was won by ZB Reinsurance.
FBC Reinsurance won the Top Life Reinsurance award. The awards, which were held in Harare on Friday evening, are hosted by Old Mutual and Zimbabwe’s number one business publication, The Financial Gazette.
Speaking at the awards ceremony, the chief executive of the Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency (ZIDA), Tafadzwa Chinamo, said the theme for this year’s awards — Sustainable Innovation for Growth — spoke to the realities of modern corporate development.
“There are no two ways about it, companies that do not innovate have no future. Sustainable innovation is the bedrock on which modern companies can bring about growth, competitive advantage and increased market share.
“More importantly, through sustainable innovation companies can lower costs by among other things reducing the inputs they use, enhancing efficiency and improving relations with all the internal and external stakeholders,” he said.
Chinamo also said for growth to be sustained in a competitive environment, corporate leaders needed to continue to innovate in a manner that was friendly to the environment. “In short, sustainable innovation for growth is about the three Ps — people, the planet and profit. A good example is the way organisations responded to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“After the government imposed a necessary lockdown, organisations were forced to improvise measures for their people to work from home.
“Today, through meeting platforms such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams your mobile gadgets have become effective and efficient virtual extensions. That is a people-centred sustainable innovation. “We have also witnessed an increase in corporate mergers and strategic collaborations across the globe as upscaling becomes a competitive advantage in a fast-converging global economy. This is a profit-driven sustainable innovation,” Chinamo added.
