SINGAPORE - Nominations for this year's Enterprise 50 (E50) Awards, which have become synonymous with recognising and rewarding top enterprising privately owned local companies, opened on Thursday (March 30).
Corporate leaders from more than 100 local enterprises attended the launch at the St Regis Hotel.
The annual awards are given out by KPMG in Singapore and The Business Times. This year's theme is "Innovate, Grow & Succeed: Staying competitive in today's economy".
Participants are evaluated against a set of quantitative and qualitative criteria. The quantitative factors include financial performance indicators such as operating profit before tax, turnover and profit growth.
The qualitative criteria include management and marketing strategies such as applicants' business models, their innovations, management ideals and governance, market branding and overall potential.
"Faced with rising costs and manpower crunch in a digital economy, it is important that companies reshape business models and innovate to stay competitive. I would strongly encourage local enterprises to enter the E50 Awards for increased recognition, a positive boost for their brand, and a platform for sustainable growth," said Mr Chiu Wu Hong, the head of enterprise at KPMG in Singapore.
"The quest to winning an E50 Awards accolade represents a unique and exciting way for the enterprises to benchmark against their peers and other industry contemporaries," said Mr Wong Wei Kong, the editor of The Business Times.
Since the first edition of E50 Awards in 1995, winners have included family businesses which have expanded overseas or become publicly-listed.
Nominations for the 2017 E50 Awards close on June 30.
The E50 list will be published in the fourth quarter in conjunction with an awards gala dinner.
Supporters of the awards include International Enterprise (IE) Singapore, Singapore Business Federation, Spring Singapore and the Singapore Exchange (SGX).
OCBC Bank returned as the main sponsor of the E50 Awards for the 12th consecutive year.
