“Owing to an enormous number of requests and last-minute enquiries that we have received from SEIFSA members as well as non-SEIFSA members for the extension of the submission deadline for the entries, we have decided to extend the deadline from 15 April to 22 April 2016,” SEIFSA Chief Executive Officer Kaizer Nyatsumba said.

Born out of the need to encourage growth and celebrate excellence in the metals and engineering sector, the SEIFSA Awards for Excellence offer a great opportunity for companies operating in this vital sector to receive well-deserved recognition by industry peers for their capabilities, expertise and innovation.

“In such turbulent economic times and a challenging business environment, we at SEIFSA believe that it is critically important for those companies which excel at what they do to get the acknowledgement and recognition that they deserve,” Mr Nyatsumba said.

The SEIFSA Awards for Excellence have seven different categories, namely:

  • The Most Innovative Company of the Year, which will be awarded to a company which showed the highest level of innovation in research and development or production in 2015;
  • The Health and Safety Award of the Year will be offered to a company with the best legal compliance record in Health and Safety or the lowest Lost-Time Injury Frequency Rate in 2015;
  • Entries are also invited from companies whose Corporate Social Investment (CSI) programme/s in 2015 had a major impact on the lives of their beneficiaries;
  • The company rated the highest in customer service performance in 2015 will receive the Customer Service Award of the Year;
  • The Most Transformed Company of the Year Award will be received by a company that showed the highest transformation level in the composition of its Board of Directors, Executive Management and Managerial Team in 2015 (this award category pits companies employing fewer than 100 people against those of similar size, and companies employing more than 100 companies against others of similar size);
  • This is the Decade of the Artisan, and an award will be made to the company that trained the highest number of artisans in 2015;
  • The Environment Stewardship Award will go to a company that has made the biggest or best strides towards conserving the environment or mitigating the impact of its operations on the environment in 2015.

Mr Nyatsumba encouraged manufacturers operating in the metals and engineering sector to take advantage of the deadline extension and submit their entries for the seven categories before the new cut-off date.

Winners of the Awards will be honoured in a ceremony that will take place on the second day of the two-day Southern African Metals and Engineering Indaba, scheduled to take place on 26 and 27 May 2016 at the IDC Conference Centre, in Sandton.