DARLING SWEET WINS NATIONAL PRODUCTIVITY SA AWARD!

During the 39^thNational Productivity Awards gala dinner, held last night at the Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand, Darling Sweet was announced as national winner in the category Emerging Sector. We are incredibly proud of this award!

Productivity SA promotes employment growth and productivity in South Africa, seeing as it is such an important driver that contributes to the country’s socio economic development and competitiveness. The National Productivity Awards are Productivity SA’s acknowledgement of enterprises from the public, private and emerging sectors “which have demonstrated productivity improvement, employment growth, wealth and income increase as well as social responsibility.” Through awarding these organisations Productivity SA aims to encourage other organisations to strive to be productive and globally competitive. The CEO of Productivity SA, Mr. Bongani Coka, says as the country’s fight against unemployment intensifies, it is through organisations like these that poverty can be holistically tackled.”

Hentie received the award on behalf on Darling Sweet, and here is his acceptance speech:

“Thank you, Productivity SA, for this prestigious award. It is a great honor for me to receive it on behalf of Darling Sweet. Thank you also for including Darling Sweet in your Turnaround Solutions program, and to Christel Potgieter for her expert guidance and valuable input during our productivity sessions. Christel, you’ve made a difference!

Frits and I are both proud and humbled to be the founders of a start-up that has grown so fast over the past four years, and about the fact that our toffees and caramels have gained such incredible market traction during this time.

We are also deeply thankful, since we could not have done this on our own, despite our total commitment and relentless hard work since we started Darling Sweet. Both people and institutions have played a pivotal role in our young company’s success, and at the top of that list, which is a long one I can assure you, is the team of amazing women working at Darling Sweet, without whom this journey of ours would not have been possible. With regards to the institutions that have fueled our journey I am proud to say that many of these are government-run institutions and initiatives, and here I would like to mention in particular Wesgro, and SEDA (the Small Enterprise Development Agency), and of course Productivity SA.  

Thank you to all of you who have made this achievement possible.”