BALACLAVA, MAURITIUS: The National Productivity and Competitiveness Council (NPCC) hosted the National Productivity and Quality Excellence Awards (NPQEA) 2026 on Tuesday, October 27, at The Ravenala Attitude Hotel, Balaclava, which recognised the outstanding contribution of organisations spanning across the private and public sectors towards productivity, quality and continuous improvement.
The event, themed “Unlocking Organisational Potential: Sustaining Productivity and Quality Excellence,” which brought together business leaders, government officials, quality champions, and international delegates, was hosted on the island for the first time, following two days of the Africa Kaizen Annual Conference (AKAC) 2026, where a total of 46 projects were submitted across three categories, namely: 27 from small, medium and micro enterprises and registered associations; 3 from mid-market and large private enterprises; and 16 from government departments and parastatals.
Minister of Labour and Industrial Relations, Muhammad Reza Cassam Uteem, in his address, has put in context that productivity and quality excellence are within the broader context of decent work and inclusive growth.
“Productivity does not happen in spite of workers — it happens through them. A workforce that understands its rights, works in safe and fair conditions, feels valued and respected is a workforce that is motivated, engaged and capable of continuous improvement, he underlined. The Minister underlined that the link between decent work and high productivity is empirical, not merely aspirational, and called for a shared agenda of trust, dialogue and collaboration between management and labour. He lauded the efforts of NPCC for sustaining the NPQEA as a rigorous and meaningful institution, and praised award recipients for earning “something more valuable than a trophy — the knowledge that their commitment to excellence is real, tested and acknowledged.
On the other hand, NPCC Chairman Arshad Duymun underlined the transformative power of the Kaizen mindset and the central role of people in driving productivity. “People are, and will always remain, the engine of productivity. Every process we improve, every award we give tonight, every Kaizen project we implement — behind it is a human being who decided to care, who believed that something could be done better, and who acted upon it.”
While Executive Director of the NPCC Dr. Vinaye Ancharaz said, “For Mauritius — a small, open economy competing in global markets — there is simply no alternative to productivity. Every percentage point of productivity improvement translates into competitiveness. Every quality award won by a Mauritian enterprise sends a signal to the world: that this island takes excellence seriously.”
He linked the NPQEA theme directly to that of AKAC 2026, noting that both carry the same conviction: “improvement must be sustained, growth must be inclusive, and resilience is built not through one-off efforts but through cultures of continuous excellence.”
