With a record number entries received, competition is stiff for the highly acclaimed Grant Thornton’s Private Business Growth Awards 2018. Held in association with Business Botswana and Botswana Investment and Trade Centre (BITC), the annual awards are now in their 4th year. The awards will take place as part of the Global Expo on the 31st of October 2018, with Vice Presidents of both Botswana and India expected, and Guest of Honour being Botswana’s Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry, Bogolo Joy Kenewendo.
Through these Awards, Grant Thornton strives to recognise privately-held businesses that approach growth from a strategic & holistic perspective. The high number of entries received this year followed an intense stakeholder engagement effort to profile the importance of investing in business growth as well as the numerous benefits and reputational growth experienced by winners in previous years. Entries have nearly doubled since last year, and participation has increased by 400% since inception in 2015.
Kalyanaraman Vijay, Managing Partner of Grant Thornton said: “We are incredibly pleased at how this platform has grown and how many local businesses we celebrate through this initiative, which itself continues to grow with each year. Behind every successful business is a team of innovative and strategic leaders that drive the organisation’s people and culture towards achieving its goals, develop the market in which they operate, and steadily improve financial performance, to create a positive long-lasting impact by contributing to a strong and vigorous National economy. Our theme for this year is ‘Creating Impact’ and it is a true reflection of the calibre of meaningful impact private sector businesses in our Nation’s borders can make.”
A specially convened panel of internal and external judges have evaluated the submissions per the following criteria: Innovation, Market Development, People and culture, and Strategic leadership, as well as Financial measures and operational information. Winners are set to be announced in the Medium Enterprise category, as well as the Large Enterprise category. 2017 saw Hotwire PRC and Security Systems take home the big accolades in each respective category, with positive business impact as a result. 2017 also saw special categories introduced by BITC as follows: Investor of the Year Award – Manufacturing Sector; Investor of the Year Award – Services Sector; Investor of the Year Award – Expansions; and Exporter of the Year.
“Everything is set for yet another fantastic awards ceremony, bringing together some of the leading brands and businesses in our private sector. We believe that growth is not only about being bigger, but it is really about being better, and this is what we want to get across. We are so excited to see this platform continue to expand,” Kalyanaraman Vijay said.