Top 100: Softnet is overall winner

Dar es Salaam. SoftNet Technologies is the overall winner of the Top 100 mid-sized Companies survey, a project Mwananchi Communications and KPMG initiated five years ago. Tanzania’s fastest growing mid-sized companies in 2015 were unveiled at a gala dinner here on Thursday following a survey sponsored by Bank M, Dar es Salaam Stock Exchance and Azam Television.

Morogoro Plastic Limited came second and was followed by Kays Logistics, Abacus Pharma, and Techno Brain.

Teamwork was the secret to the victory, according to Mr Nuru Othman, the chief executive officer of SoftNet. “We are happy with the victory, thanks to our staff, who work as a team,” Mr Othman told The Citizen shortly after his firm was declared the overall winner.

While working in tandem offers the team a chance to offer better services to customers, he said, expertise also contributed to a large extent to taking the company where it is now. Each department also was allocated the right employees. “We are doing well because we have appropriate skills and good managers,” said Mr Othman.

Above all, he explained, good customer care is a crucial aspect of doing business--and Softnet focuses on treating customers well so they can enjoy the service.

The firm offers a data and call centre and telephony solutions, electronic queue management, and a back-up system. Mr Othman expressed satisfaction with the company’s achievements and said it was it was at the right stage to grow.

“Expansion of our operations will provide room for improvement of our services,” he explained, “as we will be looking forward to surviving in the global market.”

This was fourth time the company was taking part in the competition, and it has been improving year after year. In the three years, SoftNet Technologies was ranked 78th, 68th and 58th. “The leap from position 58 last year to first position was indeed a big deal to us,” Mr Othman said. “This will be a catalyst challenging us to continue working round the clock so we can leap to large scale status.”

The firm intends to expand its operations to all East African countries. Chief Guest Felix Mosha, who is the former chairman of the East Africa Business Council, had kind words for all companies that participated in the survey. “Reaching this stage is not a small deal,” he said. “You have proved that you are an asset and not liability to the nation.”

The chairman went on to describe the firms as the backbone of the economy that was of paramount importance in building the national economy,

The annual turnover of medium-sized companies, which contributes most to job creation, stands at above Sh25 billion. But Mr Mosha warned “the key players in the economy” that they must work in collaboration if their services and products are to be in a position to compete internationally. “You should hang together,” he told participants, “If you act otherwise, you will be hanged apart, paving the way for your failure across the country.”