Click images to view larger versions

the year that was

Winners of the Oman Awards for Excellence 2005 look back on their victory and what has changed since
BusinessToday reports

As the ninth edition of the Oman Awards for Excellence gets underway, promising to recognise people and processes that work both smarter and harder, there are different moods prevailing among the winners who enjoyed the limelight last year. Says Ahmed Saleh Baabood, who won Entrepreneur of the Year at the Oman Awards for Excellence 2005, “Every year, I see the awards becoming more competitive and challenging. The promotion of the awards is also very dynamic. I thought that there was a lot of style to the launch this year as well.” Though he is not in the running for the entrepreneur award this year, Baabood says that if there are other categories where OITE qualifies, they will enter. “The awards are an excellent tool that we have here in Oman, allowing companies from different fields, with different sizes to compete. They help everyone to improve the way they do business. They allow businesses and individuals to set leads.”

Competition and more
Baabood acknowledges that the stringent, independent audit of international standards that is part of the qualifying and selection procedures at the awards drove his organisation to enter. For Dominic Myers, general manager, Matrah Cold Stores (MCS), which walked home with the coveted Flame of Excellence Award, these factors were what compelled them to re-enter. MCS had been trying for many years to bring home the Flame of Excellence, an award Myers describes as ‘a way of testing whether we really are the best.’ He continues, “Each year we tried to present a comprehensive set of indicators showing that MCS was growing its sales and profit and also doing lots of other good things for Omanisation, for getting new business, and with regards to customer service. After being selected as a finalist, we have to complete a very challenging questionnaire. The difference last year probably was that we spent even more time on trying to make our presentation powerful as well as user-friendly for the judges. That probably tipped the balance in our favour.”

What keeps the awards in favour with the corporate sector is that they encourage not just a competitive spirit but also the sharing of information. Says Myers, “Information fuels the opportunity to grow. Whether or not we win, the process of submitting an application for the awards is a tremendous learning experience.” MCS will be submitting a full application for the flame of excellence awards this year too. Myers anticipates competition to be tougher than ever owing to the strong growth of the economy and the increasing awareness about the awards. “It will be tough,” he says, “But we will give it a go.”

Inclusive approach
It is not just the private sector that enjoyed the competition that the awards promote. The public sector scored twice over when the Ministry of Manpower and the Ministry of Sports shared top honours for the Public Service Initiative Award. Mohammed al Sheedi, director general of administrative and financial affairs, Ministry of Sports, believes awards work as incentives. “They spur organisations and people to perform even better than they have in the past.” One of the Ministry’s focus areas remains to develop all sports in the sultanate. “Everyone knows football, but we are keen to popularise traditional games as well as sports like karate and taekwondo, among others.”

Sheedi thinks that performance is key to success, whether in the public sector or the private sector. “Whatever sector you are part of, you have to plan, organise, coordinate, make budgets, and take decisions. The difference might be in the size of the organisation but the activities you need to undertake to succeed are the same.” And it is not just about one-off achievement. “Continuous development is important and that is our goal.”

Hilal al Salmani, director of specialised services directorate, Ministry of Manpower, says that following the win there has been a greater awareness about its initiatives, particularly the Green Card, which it issues to companies who comply with the Omanisation requirements it specifies. He also talks about the prevailing systems that do away with queues and ensure smooth movement of people visiting the Ministry offices. Says Salmani, “The idea is to co-operate with the private sector to achieve even better things in the future.”

Getting better
For Oman Cables Industry (OCI), winner of the Exporter of the Year Award, better results came from having a clear-cut geographic and product segmentation strategy. Says Hussain Salman, vice chairman and managing director, OCI, “We did all that was required to customise our products and services to meet requirements of utilities in the GCC, Europe and other international markets. In the UK market, OCI even provides door-to-door delivery to its customers.” In 2005, the company entered the Australian market, where it found a niche in the mining industry where copper power cables are used.

In real terms, OCI achieved almost 100 per cent export growth in 2005, vis-à-vis 2004. Salman says that the criteria set for the award also gave the company further insight on internal business processes and customer satisfaction aspects, which are closely linked to one another. “Once we did the internal exercise for applying for the export awards, we identified areas for improvement, and worked on them.” One of the initiatives was adopting the latest ERP system, customised for the cable industry, which really helps in improving response time to customers. To acquire a larger worldwide footprint, the company has also continued to build very credible relationships with international EPC majors, among them Shell Global and GS Engineering from Korea.
OCI has been competing at the awards since 2003. Having seen the changes that the awards have gone through over the years, OCI has a suggestion to make them more broad-based. Says Salman, “To really capture excellence in companies, perhaps separate criteria need to be set for different types of companies. The criteria for excellence for a service company could be different and abstract compared to a manufacturing company. So you could set aside results as a separate criteria, and look at business excellence in other areas – perhaps in marketing, human resources and distribution.”

Spurring excellence
BankMuscat CEO Abdul Razak Ali Issa has this to say about the awards: “We believe that the Oman Awards have, over the years, done a tremendous job of recognising the very best across industry categories throughout the sultanate. The fact that the Awards have also mirrored the emergence of certain industries in Oman – tourism, for instance - has ensured that they have stayed current and topical. It is public recognition that spurs us on to trying even harder in our chosen spheres of work.”

After winning the People Development Award for the third year running in 2006, BankMuscat stepped out of the competition – a decision shared at the 2005 Oman Awards ceremony itself. Meanwhile, newer people development initiatives at the bank are in line with the belief that its people are its most important assets. Continues Issa, “Our people are the bank, as most customers across the nation do not differentiate between the two. It is therefore imperative that we provide them with the latest skills and technology support to offer a differentiated banking experience. Hence our continued investments in human capital at the bank.” He adds that the bank’s efforts in this direction have recently been recognised by the Investors in People (IiP), one of the highest regarded international bodies in this area.

PDO’s managing director John Malcolm had said last year that their winning the Environmental Award inspired the company to constantly improve their environmental performance. The company’s environmental management system had an international ISO 14001 certificate as early as 1999.

Adds a PDO spokesman, “PDO is continually striving to reduce the environmental impact of its operations, so that future generations of Omanis can enjoy the sultanate’s bountiful natural resources. In addition, PDO has learned that improving its environmental performance often also improves the efficiency of its operations.

For example, PDO used to take the oily waste residue at the bottom of its crude-oil tanks to a sludge farm, where it was treated slowly over time until it had degraded sufficiently to safely dispose of it. Today, however, the oily residue is processed, treated and transformed back into valuable oil.”

In a few months, competitors and consequently winners will emerge for the Oman Awards for Excellence 2006, which was launched earlier in the year (See box for details). Along with consistent sponsors, the awards have attracted newer associates as well. But while the companies and individuals supporting and winning the awards might change, the standards of excellence they prescribe to will continue to raise the bar across the business world.