2023 Secretary of State’s Award for Corporate Excellence Ceremony

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken will host a ceremony for the 2023 winners of the Secretary of State’s Award for Corporate Excellence (ACE) on Monday, October 30, 2023 at 11:00 a.m. EDT in the Benjamin Franklin Room at the Department of State.  Secretary Blinken will be joined by Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment Jose W. Fernandez and Assistant Secretary for Economic and Business Affairs Ramin Toloui to recognize five U.S. companies for work overseas that benefits local communities and exemplifies American values.

This year commemorates the Award for Corporate Excellence’s 24th year.  Established in 1999, ACE recognizes the crucial role U.S. companies are playing in showcasing high standards of business conduct in a variety of categories.  The 2023 ACE categories are Women’s Economic Security, Sustainable Supply Chains, and Innovation.

Two companies will be honored in the Women’s Economic Security category: Avertra Corp., operating in Amman, Jordan, is a medium-sized Virginia-based American software firm dedicated to an equitable and inclusive workplace for women in a male-dominated field.  The second winner is Google Poland, which is setting the standard in promoting gender equality in the workplace and supporting women in tech initiatives in Poland, Ukraine, and the region, including Ukrainian refugees from Russia’s brutal war against Ukraine.

Two companies will be recognized in the category Corporate Excellence in Sustainable Supply Chains: Ampersand USA Inc., operating in Kigali, Rwanda.  Ampersand is Africa’s first mobility energy company, providing electricity and vehicles to power fleets of thousands of electric motorcycle taxis across the East Africa.  The second winner is Parsyl, in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, a supply chain technology company specializing in risk management and cargo insurance for perishable goods.  It supports 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.

In the Innovation category, the 2023 ACE Winner is Kentegra Biotechnology, operating out of Nairobi, Kenya.  Kentegra is a biotech firm that has pioneered Kenya’s revival as a global leader in cultivating pyrethrum with smallholder farmers. Pyrethrum is a climate change-resistant cash crop and is an active ingredient used in sustainable organic biopesticides to grow healthier food and provide stronger crop protection.

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 at home and abroad.  For more information about the ACE Award, please visit  http://www.state.gov/ace.

The award ceremony is open press coverage.  Preset time for video cameras is 10:15 a.m. from the 23^rd Street entrance lobby.  Final access for writers and still photographers is 10:45 a.m. from the 23^rd Street entrance lobby.

The program will be streamed live on the Department homepage and YouTube Channel.

Media representatives may attend this award ceremony upon presentation of one of the following: (1) a U.S. government-issued identification card (Department of State, White House, Congress, Department of Defense, or Foreign Press Center), (2) a media-issued photo identification card, or (3) a letter from the requester’s employer on letterhead verifying his/her employment status as a journalist, accompanied by an official photo identification (driver’s license or passport).  Those who do not have a State Department building pass should allow adequate time for security processing at the C Street entrance.

For access to images of the award presentations, releasable after the conclusion of the ceremony, contact the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs Press Office at EB-Press-Inquiry@state.gov.