… Voting Commences to Decide Winner
The African Leadership magazine has announced Ben Ayade, Governor of Cross Rivers State, Nigeria as one of the nominees for the Business-Friendly Governor of the Year Award category in the on-going African Business Leadership Awards Polls. The award recognizes a state or regional Governor across African countries. It also promotes the governors who have been able to drive investment into his state or region, remarkably increasing the commercial activities since assumption of office.
Other nominees in the category include David Makhura, Premier of Gauteng Province, South Africa, and Lee Kinyanjui, Governor of Nakuru County, Kenya.
The eventual winner of this category will be decided through a voting process that ends on Monday, August 10th, 2020. To participate in the process of deciding a winner, Click to vote on the African Leadership magazine’s website.
Governor Ayade, a Professor of Microbiology, is popular for his innovations and policies towards the industrial revolution. Some of his accomplishments include setting up Rice seeds and Seedling Factory, constructing a Cocoa processing plant and completing a garment factory in different areas of Cross Rivers State. The garment factory has over 3000 employees and has produced thousands of face mask and PPEs that were delivered to residents and workers in the fight against COVID-19 in the state. The Governor also recently inaugurated an anti-tax agency designed to abolish payment of taxes by low-income earners, encouraging small and medium scale businesses to expand and create a livelihood for their families.
Premier David Makhura’s administration prioritizes economic growth, unemployment, increasing the province’s per capita gross domestic product and infrastructure. Some of the Premier’s accomplishments include the R199-billion foreign direct investment into the economy of Gauteng in five years of the administration, creating over 30,000 jobs. Also, the province’s economy grew from R293-billion to R1.5-trillion in 2017 to maintain its position as the seventh-largest economy in the continent and an economic hub in South Africa.
Governor Kinyanjui worked in the private sector for over ten years before joining politics. As Governor of the Nakuru County, he has promoted trade and investment opportunities within the unit, as an influential survey indicated that it is easier to start a business in Nakuru town compared with other populous urban areas in Kenya, due to reduced tax burden. More recently, the county passed into law the Nakuru County Enterprise Fund Bill, among other bills, to boost the growth of small and medium-scale enterprises in the county, most of which have been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The voting is the second stage in a 3-step points-based selection process that includes: a call for nomination; a call for voting for shortlisted nominees; and the editorial board’s final review of the nominations and voting submissions – using supporting evidence and voting considerations in their final decisions to decide the African Business Leadership Awards 2020 winners. Voting shall be responsible for sixty-five percentage points and supporting evidence responsible for 35% in the final selection process for the 2020 winners.
About the African Business Leadership Awards
The African Business Leadership Awards is a prestigious recognition event to reward exceptional corporate practices and outstanding achievers in Africa’s business landscape and its private sector. The awards are in keeping with the African Leadership Magazine’s tradition of presenting the sides of the continent’s businesses and leaders, which hardly finds placement on global media platforms – celebrating exemplary business leadership on the continent. The 2020 edition especially recognizes business leaders, visionaries and innovators that continue to shape African economies; and drive today’s leading businesses that are making outstanding contributions to Africa’s economic development and post-COVID response and recovery, using business as a force for good, through their CSR and community development activities. All winners of the 2020 awards shall be presented with an award trophy and formally decorated with the instruments of the honour at the 5th US – Africa Investment Forum & Policy Dialogue 2020 (virtual), scheduled to hold (Via Zoom) from September 29th – 30th, 2020.
