H.E PRESIDENT KATONIVERE'S ADDRESS AT THE 22nd FIJI BUSINESS EXCELLENCE AWARDS NIGHT

•    The Minister for Infrastructure, Meteorological Services, Lands and Mineral Resources, Honourable Jone Usamate;
•    The Acting Vice Chancellor of the Fiji National University, Dr. William May and the FNU Council;
•    Director of the National Training & Productivity Centre, Dr. Isimeli Tagicakiverata;
•    Members of the 2021 Fiji Business Excellence Awards Panel of Review;
•    Members of the Diplomatic Corps;
•    Distinguished Guests;
•    Ladies and Gentlemen.

Miau sa bula re, and a very good evening to you all
    
I am very grateful for the invitation extended by the Vice Chancellor of the Fiji National University, to address the 22nd Fiji Business Excellence Awards. Tonight, we celebrate the achievements of organisations in both the private and public sectors that have attained exceptional levels of business excellence. These organisations have distinguished themselves through outstanding management practices to champion innovation, bring out the best in employees, and endeavour to deliver superior performance.

Ladies and gentlemen, the Fiji Business Excellence Awards was an inspiration of the Government, employers and workers unions that collaborated to draw up a strategic plan for Fiji’s Productivity Movement more than 20 years ago. It is a result of a series of successful forward thinking and Excellence driven round table discussions held back then, to implement and adopt a Business Excellence Framework for Fiji, into the Productivity Charter of 1995 which was later reviewed in 2005.

Business Excellence is an essential tool for organisations to strengthen their capabilities and processes and companies can adopt the Business Excellence framework assessment tools to identify strengths and areas for improvement, and then act on those through a systemic approach to improve business performance.

Ladies and gentlemen, the Fiji Business Excellence framework and Criteria play an important role in strengthening Fiji’s competitiveness on a global level which is of paramount importance in remaining relevant in an ever-changing business landscape.  It has assisted many Fijian organisations in improving their organisational processes, capabilities, and results which can be benchmarked against the best practices of leading global organisations in their respective sectors. The Business Excellence framework helps companies address critical organisational needs related to long-term success and sustainability by strengthening business fundamentals such as leadership, strategic planning management analysis and knowledge management, workforce focus, customer and operation focus.

Since its launch in 1998 with the first three applicants being recognised in 1999 to the sixteen organisations recognised in 2019, the Fiji Business Excellence Awards has continued to grow more successful with a total of eleven organisations being recognised tonight. To date a total of 272 awards have been presented to around 131 applicants over the last twenty-one years. Participation has been beneficial for these organisations in the awards process and they have continued to use the awards framework as an ‘Organisational Self-Assessment’ tool. 

To all our leaders in the various sectors, regardless of your situation or structure, you need an innovative organisational system to survive in the future. COVID-19 is a harsh wake up call for all of us particularly businesses and the new way of doing business. The Fiji Business Excellence Awards Framework is designed to provide senior managers with a holistic method to approach business management and formulate key decisions that leads to adaptability, sustainability and measurable success.

Ladies and gentlemen, Fiji much like the rest of the world is emerging from the unprecedented challenges of a global pandemic with renewed determination and optimism. After almost two full years of weathering the pandemic, I commend the nation on the success of vaccination efforts of over 90 percent of adults being vaccinated. While our nation’s successful vaccination efforts has led to the reopening of our national borders and receiving tourists and a promising economic recovery, we cannot let our guard down, as responsible citizens of our beloved country we need to embrace society-wide promotion and compliance with COVID safe measures to mitigate any drastic impact should a potential 3rd wave occur.

Ladies and gentlemen, on Wednesday, December 1st, 2021 the first Fiji Airways plane arrived with returning locals and international tourists that received a grand welcome at the Nadi International airport. Fiji’s Global Campaign with 'Open for Happiness’ is the message Tourism Fiji and its stakeholders have been promoting to holiday makers across all our Travel Partner Countries. The arrival of our international visitors is a boost for our efforts towards economic recovery and we have paved the way to a new normalcy, now we must walk towards it together and resume Fiji’s service as the hub of tourism, finance, communications, business, and transportation for our Blue Pacific.

Ladies and gentlemen, at this juncture, I wish to congratulate the National Training and Productivity Centre on its 22 years of achievement on the ‘Sustainability of Business Excellence programme’ in the country. Only Singapore has achieved such a milestone and it gives me great pride to acknowledge that Fiji is only the second country to achieve such a feat. I have been reliably informed that the Fiji Business Excellence Awards was cancelled for the first time in 2020 due to COVID-19. However, this situation presented the Secretariat and the Panel of Review an opportunity to review its strategy and be innovative in its approach for the 2021 Fiji Business Excellence Awards Process and for the first time had implemented a Virtual Evaluation process.  It would be rather remiss of me not to commend the work of the Award Secretariat under the leadership of Professor Wilkinson and the management of the Awards programme by Dr. Isimeli Tagicakiverata and his Team.  Similarly, I wish to commend the hard work and commitment of the Panel of Review members for their efforts and guidance in ensuring the integrity, neutrality and competency of the Awards is upheld and preserved.  To the evaluators who continue to make valuable contributions to the Fiji Business Excellence Awards, Well done and keep it up! 

Ladies and gentlemen, tonight, we acknowledge and celebrate the resilience and resolve of our people and the organisations for continuing their journey to excellence. We equally commemorate the 22nd year of these prestigious awards which is an achievement that we as a nation should be proud of.  The Fiji Business Excellence Awards is part of a global family of awards recognised internationally as the most rigorous business awards programme in the world. It communicates a commitment to high business standards and support for successful Fiji Businesses in supporting Government’s efforts in improving the Fijian economy especially during the reopening phases for Businesses and the opening of international borders for tourism.  

In conclusion, I congratulate this year’s award winners, for through your commitment to your respective Business Excellence journeys; regardless of revenue size or industry sector; your achievements are a clear demonstration of the importance of developing strong fundamentals for future growth. 

As we strive towards overcoming today’s challenges and seizing tomorrow’s opportunities, I hope the success stories of tonight’s award winners shall motivate leaders and organisations to join the Business Excellence journey, and leverage Business Excellence to yet another level and to compete effectively in the economy.  It is the only way to remain relevant in a world where the customer is well informed and preference is ever changing. Let us work together to raise the standard of Business Excellence and Delivery that will in due course improve the standard of living for all Fijians.

While it is still early in our celebration, I would like to wish you all present here tonight and your families a Merry Christmas and Prosperous New Year!

May Almighty God Bless you all and May God Bless Fiji. Vinaka vakalevu. Thank you.