Safaricom has for the third year running emerged as the CEO's Most Respected Company in East Africa.

The telecommunications company emerged tops at 10 years of the CEOs Most Respected Company awards, which was first introduced into East Africa by PricewaterhouseCoopers to celebrate business excellence across the region. 

Kenya Airways and MTN Uganda scooped second and third positions respectively in the East African Award category.

Announcing the winners at a gala dinner held on Saturday night, Charles Muchene, Survey Director and Partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers Kenya said, "We are celebrating a decade of respected companies but also the 2009 winners who have proved themselves to be truly distinctive in the minds of the region's business leaders"

"This year's winners are significant players in the East African business landscape, but they have also stood out from the crowd in terms of the excellence of their products and services." He added

Muchene said for the first time in recent years high quality products and services featured as the leading drivers of respect including expansion into new markets and market leadership.

Safaricom also topped the Kenyan category. Kenya Airways was second and East African Breweries Limited was third.

In Rwanda, MTN emerged 'Most Respected', followed by Bralirwa Breweries and Serena hotels.

The companies held onto their rankings from the 2008 inaugural Rwandan Award.

In Tanzania, Zain was tops while Vodacom came in second and Tanzania Breweries was third. 

In Uganda, MTN held onto its top spot followed by Serena and Bidco.

Muchene said this year's theme was ‘Rethinking and Reshaping the New Normal.

He said the companies had adapted with great agility to the changing market conditions.

" The winning companies are generally those that have not just survived the economic downturn, but managed to thrive" he said.