Abidjan, 30 June 2017: The awards ceremony of the first edition of the ECOWAS Quality Award was held this Friday at Sofitel Hotel Ivoire in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, with the presence of West African ministers and their representatives, experts and leaders of companies, which have been nominated for the award.

The ceremony aimed to reward the best companies in the sub region in the field of quality with the desire of encouraging economic operators to improve the quality of products and services offered to consumers.

During the ceremony, the ECOWAS Commission, with the support of the Government of Côte d’Ivoire, awarded more than 20 trophies to winning companies, personalities and institutions that have contributed to the promotion and development of quality infrastructure in West Africa.

Honorary diplomas, scarves and certificates of participation were also given to personalities, partners and companies.

Winner companies of the ECOWAS Quality Award were rewarded in three categories: small (C), medium (B) and large (A) enterprises. In each category, one trophy of Excellence and four special trophies (leadership, product realization, resource management and stakeholder orientation) were awarded.

For this first edition of the award, the tree companies FILTISAC (Côte d'Ivoire), AGETIP-BENIN (Benin) and CLINA LANCENS LAGOS (Nigeria), received the Excellence Award in categories A, B and C. In addition to the awards, the participating companies presented their innovations, developed partnerships and forged business ties.

The ECOWAS Quality Award is an essential component of the ECOWAS Quality Policy, called ECOQUAL. Established in 2013, it is part of the ECOWAS Commission's many efforts to promote a "culture of quality" in the community.