Dubai Economy will announce the winners of the 26^th Business Excellence Awards on the 11^th of November 2020 at a ceremony held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. The ceremony will be the first of its kind and held virtually in view of the precautionary guidelines against COVID-19.

The Business Excellence Awards, which chiefly include Dubai Quality Award (DQA), Dubai Human Development Award (DHDA) and the Dubai Service Excellence Scheme (DSES), is currently in the 2019 cycle. Overall, 46 winners from various industry sectors will be announced as 2020 Award winners this year.

The Awards remain a major component of the initiatives Dubai Economy has launched to date to promote quality and excellence as a catalyst for further growth and development in the business sector and contribute to the aspirations of the Government of Dubai to encourage global best practices across the emirate and the UAE to strengthen competitiveness and sustainability.

The Awardshavealso continued to expand each year to recognise exceptional efforts of industry sectors and businesses to support strategic initiatives aimed to elevate quality standards and enhance customer happiness across Dubai and the UAE.

The 2019 assessment cycle for the Awards will see a new category under the Dubai Quality Award – the ‘Dubai Smart Industry Award’ – involving the industrial sector in the excellence march in Dubai and encouraging the digital transformation of industries in line with the objective set in the Dubai Industrial Strategy 2030. The new category has been instituted by the Business Excellence Department in Dubai Economy in partnership with Dubai Exports, the export promotion agency of Dubai Economy.

Shaikha Ahmad Al Bishri, Director of the Business Excellence Department, said: “The 2019 assessment cycle has seen the Business Excellence Awards expanding its scope and scale remarkably in terms of participation and assessment. Overall, we have seen a 3-5% increase in applicants over the previous year, reflecting a growing appetite among businesses to adopt the principles of quality and excellence standards across their operations and services. We have also seen a remarkable improvement in sharing the excellence knowledge within the business community with 1,504 delegates being involved and trained with various excellence events, like training workshops and conferences, to develop applicant companies, assessors, mystery shoppers and businesses.”

Al Bishri added that the prevailing pandemic crisis has proved to be a testament to the strength of the excellence journey being sustained and strengthened by Dubai Economy. “Almost 90% of the member businesses in the Dubai Service Excellence Scheme complied fully with the new health and safety precautionary guidelines implemented against COVID-19. We continued to engage applicants and assessors through online platforms amidst this crisis and the satisfaction rate recorded from these events was above 80%.”

Since its inception in 1994, the Dubai Quality Award has received the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who has been instrumental in driving the quality movement across the private and public sectors in the emirate. DQA encourages and motivates companies and institutions to adopt a policy of excellence, provide the best services, and recognise best practices in performance excellence.

The DQA winners are honoured in four categories – the Gold Category, the Dubai Quality Award, the Dubai Quality Appreciation Award (DQAA) and the Dubai Quality Global Award (DQGA). The awards will be distributed in key sectors – government, manufacturing, finance, professional, tourism, services, trade, construction, education, healthcare, free zones, transportation, logistics, media, leisure and entertainment, real estate, retail and representative entities.

DHDA recognises the long-term commitment of the private sector to human resources development. Given in three categories – the Gold Category, the Dubai Human Development Award and the Dubai Human Development Appreciation Award (DHDAA) – the award covers the trade, manufacturing, construction, professional, services, tourism, education, healthcare, financial services, free zones, transportation, logistics, media, leisure and entertainment, real estate, retail and government sectors.

The Dubai Service Excellence Scheme is a one-of-a-kind initiative that aims to gain customer confidence and to make the experience of shopping in the UAE a pleasurable one. Participants in DSES are honoured in two main categories: the best outlet and the best brand.

For more details on the Business Excellence Awards, please write to bec@dubaided.gov.ae or call +9714 4455833.