LuLu bags two Business Excellence Awards

LuLu Hypermarket received two prestigious Business Excellence Awards, namely the Dubai Quality Appreciation Award and the Dubai Human Development Appreciation Award, from the Department of Economic Development (DED), Dubai. The awards  were presented by Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohamed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, in the presence of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, to Yusuff Ali M.A., Managing Director of LuLu Group, and Salim M.A., Director of LuLu Group. The award ceremony was held at Madinat Jumeirah.

"We are honoured to receive this prestigious recognition. This will encourage us to achieve higher excellence in providing a world class shopping experience to the millions of our shoppers in the region", said Yusuff Ali after receiving the awards.

Other prominent award winners are Dubai Airport Free Zone (Free Zone sector), Jumeirah Beach Hotel (Tourism sector), DP World - Head Office (Logistics) and Commercial Bank of Dubai (Finance) which received the Dubai Human Development Award. Three Government sector organizations - Emirates Identity Authority, Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC) LLC and Emirates Transport - along with Union National Bank (Finance) also won awards.

Sheikh Mohammed also honoured Their Excellencies Mohammed Abdullah Al Gergawi, Minister of Cabinet Affairs, Mohamed Ali Alabbar, Chairman of Emaar Properties, and Essa Kazim, Governor of Dubai International Financial Centre, for their outstanding contributions towards the success of the Business Excellence Awards over the last 20 years.

The Business Excellence Awards, which complete two successful decades, also includes the Dubai Human Development Award (DHDA) and the Dubai Service Excellence Scheme (DSES) in addition to the Dubai Quality Award. A total of 35 winners were honoured in the three categories for their outstanding pursuit of excellence during the year 2013, with Free Zones, Transport and Logistics joining as new categories in the awards.

The winners of the Business Excellence Award are shortlisted after various stages of evaluation, which involves independent assessments, mystery shopping, site visits, trainings and workshops. Over the last 20 years the Business Excellence Department has trained over 3,500 companies on the criteria of DQA and DHDA and over 2,500 assessors on the EFQM model. Likewise, 1,700 retailers are now members of DSES and more than 300 mystery shoppers are employed to help shortlist the winners.