Nominations open for 2022 E50 Awards; focus is on long-term growth
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NOMINATIONS are now open for the 2022 Enterprise 50 (E50) Awards, which will recognise 50 home-grown enterprises.
Participants should be taking bold steps in being adaptable, reinventing themselves to chart new paths of growth amid the uncertain business landscape - all while understanding the need to accelerate green transition.
Jointly organised by KPMG in Singapore and The Business Times (BT), with OCBC as the presenting sponsor, the 28th edition of the annual awards was virtually launched on Monday (Apr 4) - attended by 86 business leaders from more than 76 local enterprises.
This year's theme, "Ready, Reset, Grow", echoes Singapore's Budget 2022 measures to transition out of recovery phase into a more sustainable future, with a focus on long-term growth for enterprises.
In his remarks, BT Editor Wong Wei Kong said that as Singapore companies put the pandemic behind them, the focus will be back on growth.
However, it is also clear that it cannot be business as usual, or even growing as before, he added.
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"Companies will face the challenge of growing sustainably, being held more accountable for the impact they make. We hope the E50 awards will help in this reset by highlighting, recognising and exemplifying Singapore enterprises leading this next phase of growth," Wong said.
Jonathan Ho, partner, and head of private enterprise at KPMG in Singapore, noted that platforms such as the E50 Awards raise the visibility of businesses, so that they can be sighted more easily by larger corporates to jointly develop innovations.
Businesses could also go-to-market overseas together, while calling out their strengths to venture capital and other sources of investment, he added.
Ho said: "Supporting the ambitions of high potential Singapore companies will take more than just opening doors or providing relief packages for them to expand, though these certainly help. At the ecosystem level, industry players should play a part to level up the expertise and standards of these companies through competitive platforms like the E50 Awards that provide opportunities for feedback and benchmarking of capabilities at a national level."
The next decade will be a time of intense competition worldwide as economies open up post-pandemic, and more companies strive to leverage environmental, social and governance (ESG) aspects as a lever for growth, he added.
Marcus Neo, chief executive of Omni-Plus System - a recipient of the 2020 E50 Awards special recognition category for Enterprise Transformation - was a guest speaker at the launch. His business, which started in 2002, made an initial public offering debut on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in June 2021.
Neo noted that as his business comes out of the pandemic, it will increase its focus on sustainability and aims to digitalise 70 per cent of its processes through artificial intelligence and machine learning.
"What matters is to understand the industry as much as possible. Have a vision drive, stay curious and be teachable," he added.
Applicants for the E50 Awards are evaluated and ranked using both quantitative and qualitative factors.
Quantitative metrics include financial performance indicators such as operating profit before tax, turnover and profit growth. Meanwhile, qualitative criteria include management and marketing strategies such as business model, management ideals and innovation, internationalisation, knowledge initiatives, market branding and presence, risk management, and ESG practices.
The E50 Awards, launched in 1995, identifies, supports, recognises and rewards the most outstanding local companies across all sectors. Over the years, the awards has always been a sought-after stamp of excellence - regarded as a definitive list of the 50 most enterprising, privately-held companies in Singapore.
Entry submissions for the awards will close on Jun 30, 2022 at 5 pm. Applicants can sign up and find out more information at https://enterprise50.org/.
The awards is also supported by Enterprise Singapore, the Singapore Business Federation and the Singapore Exchange.
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