10-19-2023 3:01pm

Winners of the 2023 Secretary of State’s Award for Corporate Excellence

Anita Johnson-Brown Editor

The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs is proud to reveal the five winners of the 2023 Secretary of State’s Award for Corporate Excellence (ACE). The award ceremony will be held on October 30, 2023, at 11:00 a.m. EDT at the State Department, where Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken will present the award to five American companies, both large and small. The 2023 ACE categories are Women’s Economic Security, Innovation, and Sustainable Supply Chains.

The award acknowledges two companies in the Women’s Economic Security category. Avertra Corp. is a medium-sized American software firm headquartered in Virginia, operating in Amman, Jordan. They are dedicated to creating an inclusive and equitable workplace for women in a male-dominated field. Google Poland is the second winner in this category. They have been recognized for setting the standards in promoting gender equality in the workplace and supporting women in tech initiatives in Poland, Ukraine, and the region. They also support Ukrainian refugees from Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Kentegra Biotechnology, operating out of Nairobi, Kenya, is the winner in the Innovation category. Kentegra is a biotech firm that has played a vital role in Kenya’s revival as a global leader in cultivating pyrethrum with smallholder farmers. Pyrethrum is a cash crop that is climate change-resistant and is an active ingredient used in sustainable organic biopesticides to grow healthier food and provide stronger crop protection.

In the Sustainable Supply Chains category, the first winner is Ampersand USA Inc., operating in Kigali, Rwanda. They are Africa’s first mobility energy company, providing electricity and vehicles to power fleets of thousands of electric motorcycle taxis across the continent. The second winner is Parsyl, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, a supply chain technology company specializing in risk management and cargo insurance for perishable goods. They support cold chain data collection and analytics at the national, district, and local levels in Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Niger, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to help strengthen vaccine supply chain systems and identify needed improvements.

The Award for Corporate Excellence is now in its 24th year, established in 1999 to recognize the critical role that U.S. companies play in promoting global standards of business conduct. Together, these companies are leading the way to address some of the greatest global challenges.

The U.S. Department of State is committed to working with companies to further responsible business practices worldwide and to recognize their efforts to improve lives both at home and abroad. For more information, please visit http://www.state.gov/ace.

The 2023 ACE ceremony is invitation-only, but credentialed members of the media may attend on a space-available basis. A separate press notice with access details will be issued soon. For media inquiries, please contact eb-press-inquiry@state.gov.

By Anita Johnson-Brown