The Chief Information Officers (CIO) award is a special digital transformation award to celebrate successful and outstanding individuals and organisations in the information technology sector.
Abiola Laseinde, the convener /visioner of CIO awards, disclosed to BusinessDay that the project which was launched in 2020 during the covid-19 pandemic is the first of its kind in Nigeria because hitherto there was no recognition of such awards for digital on digital transformation leaders.
“The award is so special because it spotlights digital transformation leaders in the information technology index in Nigeria. Before the launch of CIO, we been hearing of awards for the chief executive officers, chief marketing officers, business development officers, among others.
“It recognises the chief information officer, chief technology officer, chief digital officer, head of IT, across various organisations,” Laseinde said.
Laseinde, who led a delegate of CIO staff on a visit to BusinessDay stated that the project has attracted a lot of stakeholders since its launch two years ago.
According to the lawyer cum the founder of CIO Club, Africa, “The idea garnered a lot of collaborations and partnerships with firms like PWC, EY, KPMG, and Deloitte who decided to support ‘Pro Bono’.”
Besides, Laseinde explained that during the summit and press conference held recently, the key takeaways were touching base with key leaders and carving out a strategic partnership with the media community and ecosystem to have a mutually beneficial working relationship.
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She said the awards have been held for the past two years, and that the third edition’s call for nomination has begun. The nomination, she explained will ordinarily lead to the award ceremony.
“The award ceremony runs in such a way that it is not exposed to voting, nominees are selected, individuals are nominated, and then there is an independent jury that evaluates such nomination. There are juries from South Africa, Kenya, majority of which are senior IT leaders in the industry from Nigeria,” she said.
Furthermore, Laseinde disclosed that the CIO club Africa, is an association of everyone who participates in the award, fintech association, manufacturing association, insurance association, among others.
The nominees said are selected through a special design. “We run a call for nominations independently. We started a call for nominations immediately after our summit on April 1, 2022 and it is going to run till the end of June,” she explained
The convener reiterated that the information for nominations are published through various media and the nominees are screened within the ecosystem.
“Information is sent and circled around the various clubs, we have been carrying out specific targeted digital marketing campaigns within the ecosystem as well, the CIO community, and for instance there is a community for electronic banking.
“The community for electronic banking is a member of the planning committee,” she noted.
She also highlighted some other associations collaborating with CIO in ensuring a fair and free selection of winners.
“For instance, we have the Fintech Association; we are partners with the Insurance Association, the Manufacturing Association of Nigeria (MAN) among other industry professional bodies.
“We have a 12-man planning committee; we have representatives from three key banks. So far we have gotten like 50 nominations.
And as a project committee, we verify the information, and the achievements of the nominees. While our technical partners always verify information from the third-party nominations link and the selections, hence, the awards run through the jury team,” she said.
CIOs have set a benchmark of hard work and have transformed sectors not just in Nigeria but globally.
