A good way to benchmark
SOBA is proving to be a good way for small businesses to measure their achievements
MORE and more small businesses are showing an interest in benchmarking themselves by participating in competitions like The Star Outstanding Business Awards (SOBA).
The number of entries has been growing year-on-year and judges of SOBA have noticed that the quality of the entries has also improved.
Last year, one of the judges, Malaysian Retail Chain Association deputy president Valerie Choo, noted that this is a good sign.
“Previously, new companies were focused on just trying to build their business. But now, they are going for awards to benchmark themselves,” she observed.
She pointed out that there were a lot of companies out there that have good practices in areas such as CSR or green initiatives, and have been able to translate these practices into a core value for the company.
And these companies should be able to measure what they are doing against the industry.
“It’s important to be able to measure your success, and recognition is a venue or a process that enables businesses to improve themselves,” she explained.
“We are happy to note that some past winners are returning to participate in different categories. Once they have benchmarked themselves, they continue to improve themselves in other areas. For those returning, we do see some improvements in their business and practices. Some are marginal improvements but some are quite significant,” Choo added.
According to her, the separation of the awards into two tiers, namely, Up to RM25mil revenue and Above RM25mil revenue, was a good move as it provided smaller companies with more opportunities to shine without having to fight the bigger SMEs with more resources at their disposal.
Winners of SOBA are generally judged on three main criteria – clarity, integrity and branding.
Companies vying for the award must first ensure that the information provided in their entries is clear and concise. This would make it easier for the judges to get a comprehensive idea of the companies.
“We are looking for entrepreneurs who have really built and grown the business with their own hard work, and not those that may have strong backing,” said fellow judge, Datuk Yap Yit Leong, secretary general of the Federation of Malaysia Chinese Guilds Association.
“They build from nothing into something and still have stable revenue growth,” he said.
A solid entrepreneur, said Yap, is one who has a vision and builds towards it. He or she is also able to grow every part of the business and not profitability alone.
Yap encouraged more companies to be a part of the awards, particularly younger entrepreneurs so that they can also aspire to follow in the footsteps of successful business owners.
After all, there is no harm in trying, he added.
Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers council member Datuk Mizanur Rahman Ghani noted that the SMEs that have submitted their entries for SOBA displayed strong innovative ideas, not just in products, but in technology, human resource management and business skills. And this has come about from the sharing culture built over the years through SOBA, where past winners share their experiences in workshops and seminars.
This year, the awards are divided into two broad categories – one for enterprises with a turnover of more than RM25mil and the other for those that have generated less than RM25mil per annum – to recognise the achievements of upcoming small businesses as well as more established SMEs.
SOBA has seven Top-Of-The-Class awards, namely, best in marketing, best brand, best in CSR, best green initiative, best employer, best innovation and best global market.
On top of that, it also has three Outstanding Achievement awards, which are rising star, Entrepreneur of the year (Male/Female/Young) and Malaysian business of the year.
The winners of SOBA 2017 will be unveiled at the SOBA Awards Night in January 2018.