TIKZN joins the list of businesses internationally recognised for quality management systems

2020-03-05 12:00:00

Trade & Investment KwaZulu-Natal (TIKZN) today celebrated the award of the ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management Systems Certification, the world's leading quality business standard, and joined the international database of International Organisation of Standardization (ISO) certified companies.

This standard is based on a number of quality management principles including a strong customer focus, and that the agency's mindset and approach is one of continual improvement.

"As KwaZulu-Natal's trade and inward investment promotion agency we are mandated to promote the province as an investment destination and facilitate trade by assisting local companies' access international markets. We achieve this by providing expertise and knowledge related to investment opportunities and information about the province and doing business in South Africa among other activities.

"Therefore, it is important to build a culture of continuous improvement and customer centricity which is vital when dealing with investments that run into billions of Rand.

This ISO 9001:2015 certification reassures our domestic and international investors and exporters that when they deal with us they can depend on our services to meet their requirements and deliver consistent performance across all our departments." said Neville Matjie Chief Executive, Trade & Investment KwaZulu-Natal.

During the 2018/2019 financial year TIKZN was successful in committing eight new investment projects, collectively valued at R2,66 billion which will create more than 2 536 new employment opportunities within the eThekwini, Zululand, uMkhanyakude and Harry Gwala Districts of the province.

Wayne Sherriff American Systems Registrar representative in South Africa said the ISO 9001:2015 was prestigious because it was so difficult to obtain. He estimated that there were only 13 000 companies in South Africa flying the ISO 901:2015 flag.

"Not only did TIKZN achieve this certification in just two years they also achieved it on their first attempt. This was exceptional and rare," he said.

"To be recognised as a credible organisation our systems must meet the world's top standards; that all inefficiencies have been ironed out; that we are committed to continually identifying potential problems and resolving them before they occur. "It means that almost accurate or close enough is not good enough for us," said Matjie.

"We pride ourselves on ensuring that we have at our disposal accurate, updated information about local, national and global business trends which we use to effectively and efficiently package for both internal and external stakeholder consumption. Last financial year, we developed and packaged 18 sector analyses, fact sheets and value chain studies for interested parties" said Matjie.

All employees with their executive managers were involved in the audit of all policies and systems, to ensure they are in line with local legislation and international standards.

From now on TIKZN will undergo annual audits by an international external independent verification body to ensure that continuous improvement within the organisation is top of mind.

TIKZN now joins a database of an estimated one million companies and organisations world-wide certified as ISO 9001:2015. When companies and foreign investors are looking for a credible partner they use this database, so it is vital to be there.
ENDS

For more details please contact:
Angel (Mkhethie) Shabangu
Trade & Investment KwaZulu-Natal
076 062 3779 / 031 368 9667