BY DERRICK VIKIRU
East African Paper Mills was feted for winning in the Leadership and Management category, Corporate Citizenship & Environmental Management category and first-runners up in the Productivity and Quality category
There’s possibly no feeling quite like receiving an award for your company’s hard work, dedication and success. Corporate industry awards like Company of the Year Awards (COYA) aren’t just about a pat on the back or a quick ego boost. It enhances a company’s reputation, helps employees take pride in their work and instil confidence in customers about the quality and professionalism of an organisation. If you worked hard to achieve recognition in your industry by competing for an industry award, there is little satisfaction in coming close. This is why East African Paper Mills (EAPM) went for nothing short of winning a category award in the just concluded COYA.
Kenya Institute of Management held its 19th annual Company of the Year Awards at Safari Park Hotel in Nairobi on Friday 30 November 2018 in a gala dinner filled with pomp, colour and a variety of delicacies. EAPM was feted for winning in the Leadership and Management category, Corporate Citizenship & Environmental Management category and first-runners up in the Productivity and Quality category.
It is a great feeling of accomplishment when you (or your company) is recognised by key authorities in the field, but is there any purpose of receiving industry awards beyond that? In an interview with Management Magazine, Servjeet Channa, EAPM Chief Executive Officer and Amit Chandaria, DMC Group Director explain to us the major benefits in being part of COYA and the entire Organisational Performance Index (OPI) process – a business excellence model developed by Kenya Institute of Management (KIM) and benchmarked by global business excellence models and global best practices. “OPI seeks to recognise performance of companies for purposes of benchmarking them against global businesses. That is why we joined,” says Channa.
Green Company
Located in Thika town and having garnered a sizeable market share in East Africa, EAPM manufactures paper grades for the corrugated boxes industry and supplies to carton box manufacturers in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. With the growth of business, the Company is planning on expanding its operations.
EAPM paper products are 100 per cent waste paper that is collected from all over Kenya. Thus, EAPM plays a key role in the elimination of waste and conserving the environment. This practice saw the company bag an award for Corporate Citizenship & Environmental Management. “Awards from trusted and respectable names in management such as KIM can give your business a credibility boost. For example, being recognised for our unique concepts and environmental conservation role has given us additional standing among our industry peers,” notes Channa.
Focus on Quality
Steered by the duo in top management, EAPM has maintained a clear focus on quality improvement and training. The management at EAPM upholds Kaizen principles for continuous improvement in productivity. “Our production process is detailed in quality assurance, with quality control checks at every stage of manufacturing,” states Amit Chandaria, Director at DMC Group. “We adhere to high quality standards stipulated in the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) guidelines. We are also ISO 9001 certified for Quality Management and we continually seek to improve, streamline operations and reduce costs. We clearly emphasize the essence of instilling smart business processes and generating strong business results,” adds Channa.
Channa boldly emphasizes the benefits of adopting and participating in the OPI process. He notes that for them, it is not even about winning the award but the gaps that OPI has enabled them to identify and rectify which saw the organisation turn around in every aspect. “People want to give business to a company that they know is trustworthy and high-quality. Since we joined OPI in 2013 we have more than doubled our productivity; meaning we have more than doubled our sales and our market share.”
“We have seen so much efficiency in our business processes and we have weeded out a lot of non-value adding activities. It has helped us revamp our systems and procedures which ultimately led us to our ISO 9001: 2015, and for us this was a by-product of OPI,” Channa told Management Magazine.
Improving Morale
A truly successful business that is worthy of awards, Channa notes, is made from the hard work and dedication of every employee. From the CEO to the junior staff, every employee has an important role in making the business great. Knowing that their efforts helped the business achieve award-winning status improves morale and increases productivity. Channa is alive to the fact that employees play a significant role in the success of a company. “We have empowered our employees to make important decisions in their areas of specialisation. We have trusted them to carry out their roles as required and deliver on their KPIs.” Amit Chandaria, a calm and collected director is quick to note that “the employee happiness index has increased tremendously.”
Channa notes that for a leader to be successful, they need employees to believe in him/her first before they can believe in their vision. Once all the staff are on board, your vision for the company will with no doubt be achieved.
Derrick Vikiru is the Sub-editor, Management Magazine. Email: dvikiru@kim.ac.ke
