Variety adds spice to EE Awards
Singapore
A POTPOURRI of companies shone at this year's Emerging Enterprise Awards (EE 2015), jointly presented by The Business Times and OCBC Bank.
Top winners Hope First Response, an emergency medical response services provider; GD Group, a Penang food restaurant chain; and ZWEEC Analytics, a water surveillance firm, were all jubilant as they received their awards from guest-of-honour Lee Yi Shyan, Senior Minister of State for the Ministry of Trade and Industry.
The evening was doubly sweet for ZWEEC, which also took home the Singtel Best Innovation Award. ViSenze, a visual search and image recognition firm, bagged the Most Promising Startup Award.
Held on Sept 23 at the Shangri-La Hotel, the black-tie event got under way with a riveting performance of Adele's Skyfall by local jazz singer Dawn Ho. Joined later by a jazz band, she took the stage again with a medley of popular hits including Frank Sinatra's The Way You Look Tonight.
Entertainment aside, the air was thick with anticipation as some 500 guests - dressed to the nines and most of whom were representatives of the award finalists - cheered, clapped and whistled for their companies while counting down to the night's big reveal.
A total of 14 finalists, perhaps the most diverse group - from railway engineering to handmade pizza retailing - since the awards were inaugurated eight years ago, were recognised for their entrepreneurial daring and innovative business strategies as small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
EE 2015 was supported by Acorn Marketing & Research Consultants, INSEAD, MasterCard, RSM, Singtel, and Spring Singapore.
