Sam Ikeotuonye 12 October 2013, Sweetcrude, Lagos – President and Chief Executive Officer for leading infrastructure and technology company, General Electric (GE), Mr. Jay Ireland, has bagged the Africa Investor ‘Business Leader of the Year’ Award for the second time running. The company was also been named, Africa Investor ‘employer and Human capital Investor of the Year’ at the same award ceremony.
Both awards were presented at the World Bank’s Annual meeting in Washington DC, United States.
During the event, the achievements of the company under Jay Ireland’s leadership were highlighted noting significant investments by the company, across Africa.
Early this year GE announced a US$1billion manufacturing and Assembly facility in Calabar set up to service the Oil and Gas as well as the Power sector in Nigeria. Before then the company had signed an MOU with the Federal Government of Nigeria to help develop an additional 10,000MegaWatts of power over the next 10 years.
On the 24th of June this year, the leading infrastructure company signed an MOU with the Ministry of Energy and Water in Angola to generate 2000 MW of electric power. This will include the completion of on-going power generation projects in the northern region of Angola as well as providing the framework for cooperation in other parts of the country.
Apart from playing a major role in the ongoing rail transportation reforms with locomotives in South Africa, GE Africa also signed a partnership worth US$5 million (R50million) with Johannesburg, South Africa based African Leadership Academy (ALA) aimed at human capital development across Africa.
Speaking at a separate event after the awards, Jay Ireland said the award was a testament to the efforts that GE has made in recent years across Africa. The investments he said were aimed at fostering partnerships and driving critical infrastructure projects across the continent.
“GE is committed to supporting the continent’s growth in various sectors such as healthcare, energy, transportation and aviation.” Ireland reiterated.
He also expressed his satisfaction on the contributions of the company to Africa. “I am delighted that General Electric’s contributions to infrastructure development across Africa is being recognized and honoured. Ireland said.
The Africa Investor Awards is the longest-standing international awards in Africa that reward exceptional business practices, economic achievements and investments across Africa. The awards also recognize institutions and individuals that are improving the continent’s investment climate.