The inaugural LinkedIn Sub-Saharan Africa Rising Star award has been won by Interswitch Group at the 2019 edition of the LinkedIn Talent Awards hosted in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Interswitch Group was nominated in the ‘Rising Star’ category for Sub-Saharan Africa alongside Debswana Diamond Company (Botswana) and Union Bank of Nigeria.
LinkedIn analysed the performance, results and impact of thousands of companies across various regions globally to determine outstanding performers who are then short-listed as finalists with respective category winners in specific geographical regions then awarded at an annual grand ceremony.
LinkedIn remains the world’s largest professional network with nearly 660+ million users in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide, with a vision of creating economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce.
At the South African LinkedIn Talent Awards ceremony, which took place at the LevelThree Premium venue in the heart of Sandton on Thursday, October 17, 2019, Interswitch was recognised for its outstanding performance.
For Interswitch, a leading technology-driven company focused on the digitisation of payments in Nigeria and other countries in Africa, this award is a reflection of the deliberate investment the company makes in its people and in shaping its employer brand, including unique approaches to talent attraction, nurturing and engagement, which have resulted in the phenomenal growth attested to by LinkedIn’s peer-ranking analytics.
Expressing her delight at this recognition, Ms Tolulope Agiri, Group Chief Human Resources Officer at Interswitch, said, “We are extremely proud and excited to be the inaugural recipient of the LinkedIn Sub-Saharan Africa Rising Star Award.
“This recognition means a lot to us, and we’d like to thank the LinkedIn team for putting this awards initiative in place, and particularly for creating such a valuable platform in which employers are able to leverage on and build upon to drive a wide variety of talent engagement initiatives.
“This recognition is a strong testament to the inherent value in collaboration, not only between Interswitch with the LinkedIn team, but also internally between our different teams.”
Also commenting on the milestone, Cherry Eromosele, Group Chief Marketing & Communications Officer, stated that, “It’s a really exciting time to be at Interswitch, and I’m particularly so very proud of this award, which is the culmination of quite a few years of dedicated effort, commitment and drive towards improving the way we tell our stories and engage with increasingly discerning audiences across platforms.
“Essentially, through LinkedIn, we have been able to expose the Interswitch story and philosophy to the wider world outside of Interswitch, and I daresay it further strengthens our resolve and inspiration to continue to re-inventing our approach to content marketing in the best ways possible, with content that is relevant and valuable embedded at the core.”
The LinkedIn Talent Awards, in its second edition in Africa, was designed to recognise organisations that invest in understanding, engaging and developing talent based on a company’s page and engagement on LinkedIn.
Currently operating in 12 locations across the world and recognising organisations in four regions including the Middle East and Africa, the LinkedIn Talent Awards is powered by insights and driven by data.
Using carefully crafted criteria, LinkedIn evaluates the performance results and impact of its corporate customers to identify finalists and winners.
Adedapo Adesanya 
Business Post Contributor