… Continental recognition puts Eswatini’s customer experience leadership in the spotlight
BY MBONGENI NDLELA
SANDTON, SOUTH AFRICA — Eswatini has earned another proud moment on the African stage after Eswatini National Provident Fund (ENPF) Chief Executive Officer Futhi Tembe was crowned winner of the Strategic Leadership Award at the prestigious CX Africa Awards held in Sandton, South Africa, last Friday.
The continental recognition places Tembe among Africa’s outstanding leaders in customer experience and, at the same time, shines a spotlight on the Kingdom’s growing efforts to strengthen service excellence across organisations and institutions.
For Tembe, the award represents more than an individual achievement. It is also a significant victory for Eswatini, demonstrating that leadership and service standards being developed locally can compete successfully against some of the continent’s strongest institutions and recognised brands.
Tembe’s road to the continental stage began at home after she won the Strategic Leadership Award during the Eswatini Customer Service Awards.
Her local victory subsequently earned her a nomination by the Eswatini Customer Experience Practitioners (ECxP) to represent the Kingdom at the CX Africa Awards.
She then went one better by successfully defending her leadership credentials on a much larger platform, emerging victorious in the same category at continental level.
The achievement is particularly notable considering the calibre of organisations represented at the CX Africa Awards.
Organised by CICM Global, the awards brought together customer experience professionals and leaders from different regions of the African continent.
Among the recognised brands competing at the awards were mobile money giant M-Pesa and Ethiopian Airlines, illustrating the quality and competitive nature of the continental platform.
Against that backdrop, Tembe’s victory becomes an encouraging indication that professionals from a small country such as Eswatini can stand alongside their continental counterparts and emerge among Africa’s best.
A WIN BEYOND ONE INDIVIDUAL
The significance of the award stretches beyond Tembe and ENPF.
It comes at a time when customer experience is increasingly becoming an important measure of organisational performance, with members of the public expecting institutions to provide services that are efficient, accessible, responsive and centred on their needs.
For Eswatini’s customer experience fraternity, Tembe’s achievement provides tangible evidence that the country’s efforts to professionalise customer service and develop stronger leadership practices are beginning to receive international recognition.
The Eswatini Customer Experience Practitioners, which nominated Tembe for the continental competition, has established an agreement through which winners of the Eswatini Customer Service Awards will have an opportunity to compete at the CX Africa Awards.
Tembe’s victory is therefore the first major demonstration of what that pathway can achieve.
Her success sets a benchmark for future winners of the national awards while giving other professionals confidence that recognition at home can become a springboard to opportunities and honours beyond Eswatini’s borders.
ENPF SERVICE CULTURE GAINS CONTINENTAL RECOGNITION
For ENPF, Tembe’s continental honour also carries institutional significance.
As one of Eswatini’s key public institutions, ENPF serves members whose experiences depend not only on the services it provides but also on the quality, efficiency and responsiveness with which those services are delivered.
The award therefore places renewed attention on leadership that recognises customer experience as an important component of institutional performance.
It further provides encouragement to organisations across Eswatini, both public and private, to continue investing in service excellence and developing leadership systems that place customers and stakeholders at the centre of their operations.
For ECxP, meanwhile, the continental triumph provides validation for its efforts to strengthen customer experience as a professional discipline in Eswatini and to connect local practitioners with the broader African customer experience community.
ESWATINI CAN COMPETE — AND WIN
Perhaps the strongest message emerging from Tembe’s achievement is that Eswatini does not have to be the continent’s largest economy or most populous country to produce leaders capable of competing at the highest levels.
By progressing from a national award to continental recognition, Tembe has demonstrated the value of creating platforms that identify local excellence and connect outstanding emaSwati with bigger opportunities.
The achievement could also inspire other executives, institutions and customer service professionals in the Kingdom to continuously raise their standards.
As preparations for future Eswatini Customer Service Awards and CX Africa Awards continue, Tembe’s victory has effectively opened the door wider for those who will follow.
It sends a positive message to the continent that Eswatini’s professionals are capable of competing with some of Africa’s strongest organisations — and winning.
For the Kingdom, that is a victory worth celebrating.
For aspiring leaders and customer experience professionals, it is equally a reminder that excellence demonstrated at home can ultimately earn recognition far beyond the country’s borders.
The Eswatini Customer Service Awards and the Kingdom’s participation in the CX Africa Awards are coordinated by the Eswatini Customer Experience Practitioners.
(Courtesy Pics)
