2004
Diageo Africa Business Reporting Awards
19 July 2004, London
Diageo, the world's leading premium drinks business, announced
the winners of the 2004 Diageo Africa Business Reporting
Awards at a ceremony in Marlborough House, London on Friday
evening, 16 July.
Thaninga Shope-Linney, General Manager for Communications
at NEPAD Secretariat, opened the Awards ceremony. She described
the guiding principles of the New Partnership for Africa's
Development (NEPAD) before introducing the Awards.
"The Diageo Africa Business Reporting Awards represent
an innovative approach to encourage more prolific reporting
of African business in international media. I applaud Diageo
for this initiative" she said.
Paul Walsh, CEO of Diageo plc, responded: "Thaninga,
it is particularly encouraging to have your support; I
certainly believe that NEPAD can and will play a determining
role in Africa's future."
He went on to say: "We have continued to invest in
Africa because the region is an increasingly vibrant and
profitable place to do business. It has often perplexed
me why this view isn't more popular. We hope these awards
will lead to more balanced reporting of business in Africa
and encourage other companies to consider investing on
the continent."
Paul Boateng, UK Treasury Minister, took the opportunity
to reinforce the UK's commitment to the development of
the continent, through the work of the Government's Commission
for Africa. He also spoke of the need for organisations
like NEPAD, the Commission for Africa and private companies
to work together.
"It can only be good business for everybody if people
do business in Africa. The importance of these Awards is
that they encourage the availability of constructive and
trustworthy information that can enable businesses to make
rational and informed decisions about where they are to
invest," Mr Boateng said.
David Hampshire, Managing Director for Diageo Africa,
thanked the distinguished panel of judges before announcing
the winners and presenting trophies to them.
The winners are -
1. Best Broadcast Feature - "Ten Years on: a South African story" by
Shola Olowu, Egon Cossou and Neil Drake, BBC World Business Report
2. Best Publication/Programme - BBC News Online
3. Best Published Feature - "Worrying news found
in Kenya's tea leaves" by Carl Mortished, The Times
4. Best Journalist - Robert Guest, Africa Editor, The Economist
A colourful and diverse audience of over 100 guests, including
MPs, business leaders, ambassadors and journalists attended
the event, and enjoyed the sounds of the Kora, a traditional
African musical instrument.
The 'Diageo Africa Business Reporting Awards' are just
one part of a broader initial three-year programme which
Diageo is spearheading. The programme also seeks to develop
journalistic capability in Africa.
Contact
For more information contact Bev Burnham, Communications Manager,
Diageo Africa +44 (0) 20 8978 6587 or +44 (0) 07803 856
059 bev.burnham@diageo.com, or Anita Ferns, Awards Secretary
+44 (0) 20 8978 6506 anita.ferns@diageo.com
To learn more about the Diageo Africa Business Reporting
Awards, view www.diageo.com and
look under "proud
of what we do" in the right hand column.
NOTES TO EDITORS
Diageo plc Diageo is the world's leading
premium drinks business with an outstanding collection of beverage alcohol
brands across spirits, wine and beer categories. These
brands include Johnnie
Walker, Guinness, Smirnoff, J&B,
Baileys, Cuervo, Tanqueray, Captain Morgan, and Beaulieu
Vineyard and Sterling
Vineyards wines.
Diageo Africa Diageo
Africa is active, particularly in brewing, but also in
distilling, in the majority of the sub-Saharan African
countries. For Guinness, in particular, the connection
with Africa is a long one; the first recorded exports of
Guinness to Africa were to Sierra Leone in 1827. Now Guinness
is brewed in over 20 countries throughout Africa and is
exported to many others. The popularity of the brand is
going from strength to strength in Africa - Nigeria is
the third largest Guinness market in the world. Several
of the larger Diageo companies in Africa are quoted on
local stock exchanges. Guinness Nigeria, for example, has
over 60,000 shareholders. All of these companies have active
corporate social responsibility programmes, covering initiatives
in water, health, education and other areas of value to
the communities in which we operate. |
