Deloitte East Africa, the world’s largest management consulting firm, will audit this year’s OLX Social Media Awards organized by the Kenya Social Media Awards.
Deloitte Partner Dr. Martin Oduor-Otieno says auditing will ensure eventual winners reflect the true picture of the development witnessed in the social media and the impact it has had on Kenyans.
“We want to make the Awards process as transparent as possible to come up with winners who have truly made immense contribution to the digital space and can inspire more people to make use of the various Online platforms to impact lives,” says Oduor-Otieno.
Oduor-Otieno spoke as the list of nominees for the 2nd Annual Awards was released. The Awards ceremony will be held on October 3nd, 2014, after conclusion of the voting exercise, which begins today.
He says the list of nominees reflects who is who in the local social media landscape under various categories and social media users will have the final say on winners by participating in the voting exercise.
The nominees in the various categories will benefit from a free course in social media from Hootsuite University.
Director of Kenya Social Media Awards, Mr. Martin Muli, says the course by Hootsuite University will help build capacity of nominees and further enhance the impact of social media on the society.
“The partnership between the Kenya Social Media Awards and Hootsuite University will help nominees build on their social media skills through webinars featuring best practices and tips from industry-leading brands, platforms and educators,” says Mr. Muli
The Hootsuite University Program is designed for professionals seeking to increase skills in Hootsuite and other social media tools and tactics. The Hootsuite is a web-based social media management tool.
The theme for this year’s OLX Social Media Awards is “Making Social Media Work For You.”
The judges have shortlisted five nominees under each category of the Awards, which include the National and County Governments, Learning Institutions, and Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs).
Other categories are Social Network Personality of the Year, Large Corporation, Traditional Media, Best use of Social Media and the Best of the Best.
To vote for the nominees, social media users will be required to visit the Awards website: www.soma.or.ke.
Mr. Muli has asked social media enthusiasts to participate in the process by voting for the nominees they believe have made great contributions to the Digital Space.
“After an elaborate short listing process, presided over by a panel of judges from diverse professional backgrounds with deep interest and influence in digital communication, Kenyans have another chance to decide who emerges the winner under the various categories by taking part in the voting exercise,” he says.
The country manager of OLX Kenya, the sponsors of the Awards, Mr Peter Ndiangu’i, says they will promote the growth of businesses and communication through social media.
“As a classified service, OLX Kenya has been able to use social media to reach out to Kenyans and showcase the value proposition of selling the items they don’t need or use online and this has positively impacted the economy,” he says.
OLX Kenya has been the title sponsor of the Awards for two consecutive years.