Project Management Institute (PMI), the world’s leading organisation for the project management profession, has announced a call for nominations for the 2023 PMI Professional Awards. The awards spotlight project leaders, teams, and rising leaders delivering superior results with good project management principles in a professional setting. 

Now in its 49th year, the awards are given out in the following categories - Project of the Year, PMO of the Year, Fellow Award, Eric Jenett Person of the Year, Rising Leader, Large and Mega Project Award, and Small and Mid-size Project Award.  

“Increasingly and more so following the pandemic, economies are moving toward a more project-based operations model. The “project economy” is one where business delivers value through the successful completion of projects, delivery of products, and alignment to value streams. This agility enables organisations to withstand shocks and tackle big challenges head-on, says George Asamani, MD, Sub Saharan Africa, PMI.   

The nominations deadline is 15 March 2023. The winners will be announced in Q4 2023.  

One of the recipients in 2022 was South African Innocentia Mahlangu, who received the Rising Leader Award. Ms. Mahlangu is a highly regarded Professional Project Manager and engineer. She holds a Master of Science in Civil Engineering from Wits University.  

She was recently appointed as the Vice President of Professional Development by PMI South Africa Chapter. PMI Chapters are volunteer-run communities that allow you to connect to other professionals, develop your skills and give back to the community.   

Previously, she has served as the chair of the South African Institution of Civil Engineering’s Diversity and Inclusivity panel and Education and Training committee and was a member of the organisation’s executive board. She is also the founder of SHEngineers, a non-profit organisation advocating for women in engineering.  

Another South African, this time a project, Concur / That Interesting Company’s Covid-19 facility at Jubilee Hospital in Hammanskraal, Pretoria, was the finalist in the Project of the Year category. They handed ten modular units to the Gauteng Department of Health, adding another 300 beds. The facility includes five 25-bed intensive care unit modules complete with a two-bed isolation ward and five 35-bed high care modules. 

The category winner was the Creative Destruction Lab Rapid Screening Consortium. The project sought to develop and implement Covid-19 screening at workplaces across Canada to help reopen the economy and break the chain of transmission of the virus. 

“The PMI Professional Awards are global, and to have a winner and a finalist from the continent is indeed exciting. Their perseverance and the transformative impact of their work needs to be recognised and celebrated. The calibre of nominations from the continent, project management, and managers should give governments comfort in knowing the flagship projects of Agenda 2063 will be delivered to a global standard,” adds Asamani.