By Business Insider Reporter
The East African Community (EAC) has unveiled the 2026 Regional Quality Awards, a major regional initiative aimed at strengthening industrial competitiveness, promoting quality standards and accelerating cross-border trade among East African businesses.
The awards, officially announced during the 28th Meeting of the East African Standards Committee in Arusha, Tanzania, are expected to recognise outstanding enterprises across the region that demonstrate excellence in quality management, innovation, standards compliance and continuous improvement.
The initiative comes at a time when East African economies are intensifying efforts to expand manufacturing capacity, strengthen regional value chains and position local enterprises to compete more effectively in continental and international markets under frameworks such as the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
According to the EAC, the awards are designed to promote a stronger culture of quality among businesses while encouraging adoption of internationally recognised standards that improve productivity, consumer confidence and export readiness.
Speaking during the announcement, EAC Director of Customs and Acting Director of Trade, Ms. Flavia Busingye, said the initiative seeks to deepen private sector participation in regional integration while ensuring that smaller businesses are not excluded from emerging market opportunities.
She called on enterprises across all EAC Partner States, particularly small and medium enterprises (SMEs), to actively participate in the awards programme and use it as a platform to showcase innovation, efficiency and commitment to quality excellence.
“We want to encourage greater participation of the private sector in the Awards process. We trust that the next phases will be more inclusive, especially for SMEs, women-led enterprises and emerging businesses, so that no one is left behind,” Ms. Busingye said.
Her remarks reflect a broader regional push to formalise and modernise East Africa’s private sector, especially SMEs that continue to account for the majority of employment and economic activity across the bloc but often struggle with limited access to certification, financing and export markets.
Business analysts say quality certification and standards compliance are becoming increasingly important as East African manufacturers seek access to global supply chains and premium export markets, particularly in agriculture, food processing, pharmaceuticals and light manufacturing.
Ms. Busingye also challenged regional institutions and stakeholders to establish stronger post-award mentorship and monitoring systems to help winning companies scale into internationally competitive brands.
“We need a monitoring process that follows up on the winners and supports them to move from where they are to another level of excellence and competitiveness,” she noted.
The EAC Regional Quality Awards were established under the EAC Regional Quality Awards Framework approved by the East African Standards Committee in 2022 and are part of wider efforts to harmonise standards and improve product quality across the region.
Following the success of the 2025 edition hosted in Nairobi, Kenya — which attracted 252 participating organisations and more than 3,000 attendees – regional officials are seeking to further raise the bar for industrial and service excellence in 2026.
This year’s awards will feature four major categories: the EAC Product of the Year Award, EAC Company of the Year Award, EAC Service Awards and the EAC Exporter Awards for the Agri-Processing Sector.
Each category will include both large enterprises and SMEs, reflecting the region’s growing emphasis on inclusive industrialisation and SME-driven growth.
The competition will begin with national-level contests coordinated by national standards bodies in collaboration with private sector stakeholders before winners advance to the regional stage managed by the EAC Secretariat.
Regional winners are expected to be announced during the final awards ceremony scheduled to take place in Kigali, Rwanda in October 2026.
The awards initiative is also expected to strengthen East Africa’s industrial policy agenda by encouraging businesses to improve operational efficiency, product consistency and sustainability practices while building stronger regional brands.
For countries such as Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi, the programme offers an opportunity to promote locally manufactured goods and services at a time when governments are increasingly prioritising industrialisation, import substitution and export-led growth.
The East African Business Council (EABC), together with national standards agencies and development partners, is expected to play a central role in supporting awareness campaigns and business participation across the region. The EAC Secretariat also acknowledged support from the European Union through the EU-EAC Market Access Upgrade Programme (MARKUP II), implemented by the International Trade Centre, which is helping East African enterprises improve market access and competitiveness.
