For encouraging technology innovation in different sectors of the economy, the Chief Information Officer, CIO, Awards recently honoured outstanding men and women working behind the scenes to drive technology in their firms.
The winners of the awards, who were said to have distinguished themselves by deepening technology use at their various organisations were selected by a jury of tech experts chaired by the Director of Information Technology and Operations at Access Bank, Mr. Ade Bajomo.
Some of the winners of the CIO awards include Okechukwu Iroegbu of Stanbic IBTC, Sina Ayegbusi of GTBank, and Richard Amanfonye of Wema Bank, all in the banking category.
In the Fintech category, Ezra Olubi of Paystack, Musty Mustpha of Kuda, and Wale Onawunki of Appzone also emerged CIO of the Year.
Others include Olusanjo Shodimu of AIICO insurance, Kola Okunola of Federal Inland Revenue, Olugbenga Senbore of Guinness Nigeria, and Obinna Ukonu of Nigerian Bottling Company. A former Minister of Communications, Dr. Omobola Johnson was also honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award.
Chief Executive Officer of Edniesal Consulting and Chief organiser of the awards, Mrs Abiola Oleseinde, said CIOs have over time, been responsible for delivering top-of-the-line innovation and business value within their organisations while also being at the forefront of decision making and strategic change.
This class of business leaders, she said, are hardly visible nor celebrated in most organisations, adding that their role, over time, has increased in importance as they evolve from information to innovation and leading the digital transformation initiatives.
She said: “It is therefore Edniesal’s commitment to recognise individual and enterprise excellence in innovation and technology across different sectors. It is indeed the celebration of the individuals and talented teams behind business transformations across different sectors in Nigeria.”
Explaining how the finalists were selected, Oleseinde said calls for entries for the different award categories were opened from 4th August 2020 to 30th September 2020.
She explains: “Afterwards, the shortlisted nominees were reviewed and evaluated by a team of independent Jury. The Jury members are leaders carefully selected across sectors with expertise in their respective fields. Entries from nominees were reviewed based on business innovation and outstanding leadership. Special consideration for nominees who are leveraging leading-edge IT practices to produce measurable results,” she added.
Meanwhile, Chairman of the Jury, Mr. Ade Bajomo, said the Jury scrutinised over 200 entries from CIOs in the country with specific attention to their achievements and project delivery. He said the entries were scored based on specific criteria leading to the emergence of the winners.
Source: Vanguard
