Nominations for E50 Awards 2018 now open

NOMINATIONS are now open for the 2018 Enterprise 50 (E50) Awards, which honours the 50 most enterprising, privately held local companies in Singapore across all industry sectors.

Organised by KPMG in Singapore and The Business Times, the highly-coveted annual awards have become the authoritative list of firms that have contributed to the city-state's economic development at home and abroad.

The launch of the awards was held at the St Regis Hotel, where it was attended by corporate leaders from more than 100 local enterprises on Thursday, including many past E50 winners.

The theme for this year is "Accelerating Growth, Innovating for Tomorrow".

Jonathan Ho, head of enterprise at KPMG in Singapore, commented: "Our past E50 companies are good illustrations. They have succeeded only because they are able to innovate and differentiate themselves from competition, especially in today's digital economy."

The ranking of the top 50 companies is based primarily on a set of qualitative criteria that include business model, productivity and innovation, management ideals and governance, risk management, and market presence in the region and beyond. A set of quantitative performance indicators over a three-year period is also taken into consideration in ranking the companies.

A special award category called the Internationalisation Award seeks to encourage more local enterprises to expand overseas. For this, a company's growth and expansion strategy will be subjected to qualitative assessment. Firms which have been on the E50 list for five years is accorded the Five Year Award.

Past E50 Award winners are invited to be a part of the Enterprise 50 Association, which organises activities such as business missions, seminars, ministerial dialogues and networking sessions. This allows members to enhance their business networking and sharing of experiences with other E50 entrepreneurs and receive updates on trade and business matters.

Wong Wei Kong, editor of The Business Times, said: "Though the path to success may often be fraught with challenges, these privately held SMEs have shown that they can overcome difficulties through determination and passion, and we look forward to sharing their stories."

The nominations for the 2018 E50 Awards closes on June 30, 2018. The 2018 Enterprise 50 list will be published in the fourth quarter of 2018 in conjunction with an awards gala dinner.

Supporters of the awards include Enterprise Singapore, Singapore Business Federation and Singapore Exchange. OCBC Bank returned as the main awards sponsor for the 13th consecutive year.