Top companies in KwaZulu-Natal scoop Productivity Awards

October is Productivity Month and the government entity tasked with promoting and enhancing productivity within South African enterprises, Productivity SA, kicked off the Productivity Month by conferring productivity awards to top-performing companies in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) during the KZN Regional Productivity Awards.

During Productivity Month, October, the importance of productivity in enhancing economic growth is brought to the fore through a series of productivity workshops and seminars countrywide. The highlight of Productivity Month is the National Productivity Awards. The rationale behind Productivity Month is to showcase, share ideas, methods and perspectives on how companies can improve productivity through the implementation of Productivity SA programmes. The Chief Executive Officer(CEO) of Productivity SA, Mr. Mothunye Mothiba, says the theme for the 2019 Awards and Productivity month is “Leading a Productivity and competitiveness-driven growth and development agenda in South Africa.”

The broader objectives of productivity month are:

•To promote productivity and competitiveness of the South African economy
•To raise awareness about the role of productivity in enabling economic growth
•To promote Productivity SA programmes and create awareness about the role the programmes play in enabling productivity improvement

Delivering the keynote address at the KZN Regional Productivity Awards, the CEO of the Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Ms. Palesa Phili, said “one of the crucial areas where the government can play a significant role is in bolstering South Africa ’s export focus. This can be achieved by modernising and improving our ports and overall transport infrastructure, refining the policies and reducing red tape, streamlining processes and procedures to expand on port efficiencies. This can be beneficial to the large corporates as well as the start-ups and small, micro and medium enterprises (SMMEs), who can profit from the reduced operational costs as well as barriers to markets”.

Speakers at the event included the Durban University of Technology (DUT) Director of Cooperative Education included, Mr. Shakeel Ori, who lauded the DUT partnership with Productivity SA that has seen placement of Industrial Engineering and Operational Management students into client companies.

The Regional Manager of Productivity SA in KZN, Ms. Amelia Naidoo says productivity is crucial for competitiveness and job creation. Naidoo says the KZN Regional Productivity Awards marked one year since the launch of the KZN Competitiveness Enhancement programme.

Productivity SA KZN runs the Competitiveness Enhancement programme in partnership with the KZN Economic Development, Environmental Affairs and Tourism Department. To date the programme has assisted in increasing the overall Turnover of participating companies by 8% to R853 million of KZN’s GDP and created 5% additional jobs to date.

Naidoo says the Productivity Awards aim to recognise and provide a platform to inspire a competitive and productive South Africa. She says following a stringent adjudication process, four companies came out tops in KwaZulu-Natal.

The Provincial winners will compete for the top honours at the National Productivity Awards gala dinner, which will be held in Johannesburg on 17 October 2019. The winners of the KZN Regional Productivity Award 2019 awards are:

• Emerging Sector winner
KwaZulu-Natal Boards

• Corporate Sector winner (Joint winners)
Blinds Syndicates
Serco

• Co-operative Sector
Bakers Creationz

For More information, please contact
Mr Maupi Monyemangene
Media Liaison Officer; Productivity SA
Telephone +27 (0) 11 848 5397/ 082 447 3232
maupim@productivitysa.co.za