NAIROBI, August 2nd, 2015:- Company chief executives in Africa now have opportunity to nominate their personal or executive assistants for recognition following the launch for Call for Nominations for this year’s Personal Assistant of the Year Awards (PAYA 2015).
The Awards organized by the International Renaissance Centre (IRC) seeks to recognize particular individuals in the position of personal or executive assistant who have made useful contributions to the organization’s overall achievement.
Announcing the Call for Nominations, IRC Chief Executive Office, Mrs Winnie Kamuya, said in Nairobi the Award helps bring attention to the important role played by the managerial cadre of workers, whose contribution at the workplace has largely been ignored.
“Whereas there are occasions when companies or organizations are rewarded for being the best or making certain useful contributions around us, for example Company of the Year Award, PAYA goes further to recognise individuals in the position of executive assistant who many have made notable contributions to the organisation’s overall win,” said Kamuya.
The PAYA 2015 is the seventh edition of the Awards and will be held in Cape Town, South Africa in September following successful editions in Kenya, Uganda and Lesotho.
Mrs. Kamuya at the same time dispelled the notion that the executive assistant has become redundant with the rapid developments in technology.
“People thought a computer could effectively manage the office, articulate on office procedures, and carry out administrative work in the office. Whereas we appreciate the role the computer has played to make work easy, can a computer welcome guests and give them the relevant information the way an Executive Assistant would do?,” she posed.
Past PAYA winners have come from Tanzania, Lesotho and Uganda, with the last two dominating the Awards. Uganda won the first and second editions consecutively, while Lesotho won the 2012, 2013 and 2014 consecutively. The winner of 2014 was Mathabo Naledi of Lesotho.
The Awards ceremony will be preceded by the International Personal Assistants Symposium to be attended by all shortlisted candidates for the Awards.
The symposium will serve to motivate and build the capacity of the nominees to become more effective in their roles and will be addressed by inspirational speakers and experts in office management issues.
Registration forms for nominations can be downloaded from IRC website: http://www.arcafrica.org/docs/PAYA-Awards.
Countries participating in the Awards include Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa, Burundi, Rwanda, Mozambique, Namibia, Lesotho, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
African CEOs to nominate high achieving personal assistants for recognition
