Dubai: Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism (DET) announced the winners of its 28th Business Excellence Awards at a ceremony held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

The Awards, which feature the Dubai Quality Awards (DQA) and the Dubai Service Excellence Scheme (DSES), seek to honour outstanding practices and commitment among businesses and establishments towards adopting best practices and achieving organisational excellence and customer happiness.

During a meeting held with the winners at the Meydan Hotel in Dubai today, His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of the Dubai Media Council, extended his congratulations to 39 businesses and establishments that were honoured at the ceremony.

His Highness stressed Dubai’s leading position as a hub for excellence across various sectors. He highlighted the emirate’s efforts to instill a culture of excellence in every sphere, which has enhanced the city’s prominence globally and enabled it to launch various innovative projects over the last decade. Recognising excellence motivates the private and public sectors to enhance their efforts to achieve the highest quality standards, he said.

The virtual awards ceremony, attended by over 1,500 guests, saw 21 businesses from the retail, services, healthcare, hospitality and e-commerce sectors recognised under the Dubai Service Excellence Scheme (DSES), while another 18 from varied sectors, including tourism, service-driven organisations, business associations and industrial establishments, won in the different categories of the Dubai Quality Awards (DQA).

Commenting on the occasion, His Excellency Helal Saeed Almarri, Director General of the Department of Economy and Tourism, said: “Excellence is in Dubai’s DNA, and is more relevant today as the city accelerates into the new post-pandemic reality. Dubai’s reputation on the global stage has been further bolstered by this excellence in approach and we are seeing this across many areas – strong economic rebound, leadership in tourism, and in attracting new companies, investors and talent. The Awards have also remained well-aligned with the vision and strategy guiding Dubai to be a future hub of business and industries, a Smart City, and a Digital Economy.”
Hisense Middle East FZE – Customer Service Department won the Dubai Quality Global Award, which recognises multinationals that demonstrates not only their commitment to excellence practices but also an alignment with economic development and social happiness in the UAE or the regions they operate.
Zulekha Hospital LLC (Healthcare) and Transguard Cash LLC (Services) received the coveted Dubai Quality Gold Award for their noteworthy performance in business excellence, in their respective sectors. 
The Dubai Smart Industry Award, added to the Dubai Quality Awards series in 2019 in association with Dubai Industries and Exports, an agency of DET, to involve the industrial sector in the excellence march in Dubai and encourage digital transformation, had two winners this year – Lipton Jebel Ali Factory Unilever (Manufacturing) and Al Ansari Exchange LLC (Finance).
The Ritz-Carlton, Dubai JBR (Tourism), Lulu Hypermarket Al Barsha (Retail), and Anchor Allied Factory (Manufacturing) won the Dubai Quality Award.
The Dubai Quality Appreciation Award had eight winners from four different sectors  - Al Ansari Exchange LLC (Finance), LM Exchange (Finance), VFS GCC LLC (Services), AG Facilities Solutions LLC (Services), Lin Scan Advanced Pipelines & Tanks Services (Services), NMC Royal Hospital, Sharjah (Healthcare), AG-PCS Switchgear Manufacturing LLC (Manufacturing), and Arabian Extrusions Factory (Manufacturing).
Smart Life, and the CEO Clubs Network were honoured under the ‘Representative Entities’ category of the Dubai Quality Appreciation Awards, which recognises the efforts of business groups to engage their members, provide them with value-added services and lead the respective industry segment.
The Dubai Service Excellence Scheme had 21 winners added this year in the ‘Best Service Performance Brand’ and ‘Best Service Performing Branch’ categories. 
The Dubai Mall (Shopping Centres), Joyalukkas Jewellery (Fashion Retail), Sharjah Islamic Bank (Services), aafaq Islamic Finance (Services), Life Pharmacy (Health & Wellness), REEL CINEMAS (Hospitality & Entertainment), aswaq retail LLC (Hypermarkets & General Retail), Grand Stores (Hypermarkets & General Retail), Interiors (Specialised Retail), Arabian Automobiles (Specialised Retail), DFM – Contact Centre (e-Services Contact Centre), 6th Street (e-Services, Mobile Application), and Matalan (GCC) were the Best Brands identified under DSES.
The Face Shop – Mirdif City Centre (Fashion Retail), Aldo – Mall of the Emirates (Fashion Retail), Al Rostamani International Exchange – Tourist Club Area Abu Dhabi (Services), Al Masraf – Sheikh Zayed Road Branch, Aster Pharmacy 122 (Health & Wellness), Tim Hortons – Jumeirah Centre (Hospitality & Entertainment) Lulu Hypermarket – Arabian Centre (Hypermarkets & General Retail), and Eros Digital Home – Dubai Mall, were recognised by DSES as the ‘Best Branches.’
Congratulating the winners, assessors, mystery shoppers and the Business Excellence Department in DET for their contributions to the excellence march Almarri added that such proactive, and collaborative, efforts were behind Dubai going past the pandemic challenge, re-opening to the world in record time, and welcoming the world with Expo 2020 Dubai.
The Business Excellence Awards have had more than 650 winners selected from 22,000 participants during the past 27 years. The latest cycle of the Awards saw an increase of over 10 per cent in applicants while the net increase over the last 28 years have been more than 300 per cent, which demonstrates the level of consolidation the concepts of quality and excellence have achieved among businesses and service establishments across the UAE.
The Dubai Quality Awards encourage and motivate organisations to adopt an international framework, with best practices, to achieve excellence and be recognised as role models. The Dubai Service Excellence Scheme is a one-of-a-kind initiative that aims to promote excellence in customer service standards in the business community, in order to create a unique and memorable shopping experience in UAE. 
For more details on the Awards, mail [email protected] or call +9714 4455833.