A night of honour and glory
The awards are a good way for companies to benchmark their successes
TONIGHT’S the night where some 700 people, business owners and industry captains alike, will be coming together to celebrate the best of the best in Malaysian business.
Despite a challenging year, some companies have found their niche and remained in a position of strength. The eighth Star Outstanding Business Awards (SOBA) will be honouring such SMEs. Their achievements will pave the way for the SME sector to be strengthened and contribute more positively to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).
And Star Media Group Bhd is proud to support these SMEs, in-line with the government’s commitment to develop homegrown enterprises.
SOBA recognises up-and-coming as well as established enterprises and their contributions to the Malaysian economy. This means not only looking at businesses that have delivered on their bottom lines, but also those that are at the forefront in their fields in terms of products, services, practices and innovations.
The awards seek to inspire and encourage local businesses to soar to even greater heights.
SOBA 2017 saw an increase in the number of participating companies, many of them new to the awards, which demonstrates the growing reach of the awards as well as a stronger desire by small businesses to be benchmarked.
Previous years’ winners have noted the benefits of participating in the awards including greater exposure and networking opportunities.
“It was a pleasant surprise for us because we weren’t expecting to win Business of the Year. This is one of the best awards for us because it is not a paid award,” said Maxvue Vision Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Selvam Kanniah.
Maxvue, which deals with branded cosmetic contact lenses, took home the Malaysian Business of the Year award for the up to RM25mil revenue category at SOBA 2016 as well as the Platinum award for Best Brand and Best Global Market as well as Gold award for Best in Marketing.
Selvam added that the company has also gotten a little more attention, including from private equity firms, since winning the awards.
“This has given us the motivation and the confidence to go further,” he said.
Another big winner at SOBA 2016 was security seals manufacturer Mega Fortris (M) Sdn Bhd. The company won the coveted Malaysian Business of the Year title in the above RM25mil category as well as the Gold award in the Best Innovation and Best Global Market categories and Silver in Best Brand.
Meanwhile, Mega Fortris group chief executive officer Adrian Ng won the Male Entrepreneur of the Year in the above RM25mil category.
“SOBA helped us increase our company profile and our marketability has gone to a different level. Our company and industry was previously under the radar. Now, we are getting more interest from investors.
“It is nice to be able to share how a Malaysian brand can be on par with international brands,” said Ng.
SOBA, which honours up-and-coming local, non-listed companies and SMEs, is open to all local enterprises that are not part of a multinational or listed group, and incorporated in Malaysia with foreign equity not exceeding 50%.
Companies are given weighted marks by a panel of judges based on guidelines set out for each category. Finalists for each category are selected based on their scores.
The Malaysian Business of the Year title is awarded to the company that has received the highest cumulative score from all the award categories.
Apart from the awards, Star Media Group also organises various workshops and conferences under the SOBA banner such as the Learning Series and the Star SMEBiz Think Tank throughout the year to educate, equip, engage and connect SMEs.
In 2017, the Learning Series workshops featured a line-up of speakers from Digi, AmBank Group, Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF), Credit Guarantee Corporation Malaysia Bhd (CGC) and Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (Matrade) who shared insights on pressing issues such as managing talents in SMEs, financial solutions in a changing business landscape, effective and efficient ways to digitalise SME businesses, potential pitfalls and derailments in the SME industry as well as platforms to expand businesses abroad.
There were also entrepreneurs who were previous winners of SOBA, who shared their success stories as well as tips and tricks for companies to stand out in today’s competitive environment.
This year, the awards will continue to have 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-TheClass” awards, namely, Best in Marketing, Best Brand, Best in CSR, Best Green Initiative, Best Employer, Best Innovation and Best Global Market, as well as three “Outstanding Achievement” awards, which are Rising Star, Entrepreneur of the Year (Male/ Female/Young) and Malaysian Business of the Year.
This year, the Grand and Platinum winners would receive editorial publicity in SMEBiz while Gold and Silver winners would Selvam (fifth from left) taking in the moment as (from left) CGC president and CEO Datuk Zamree Mohd Ishak, BMW Group Malaysia head of corporate Sashi Ambi, Star Media Group group managing director and CEO Datuk Seri Wong Chun Wai, Minister of Transport Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai, Star Media Group Chairman Datuk Fu Ah Kui, AmBank Group group CEO Datuk Sulaiman Mohd Tahir and Matrade senior director Wan Latiff Wan Musa look on. equally have their share of publicity in the MetroBiz section.
All winners will also take home the coveted SOBA trophy, be eligible for preferential rates for ads in The Star carrying the SOBA logo, have the rights to use the SOBA logo/monogram on corporate and advertising and promotion collaterals as well as get the chance to speak at special talks organised by Star Media Group.
In addition, the Rising Star winner will receive a cash award of RM10,000 sponsored by CGC.
All finalists will receive certificates of merit while every participant will walk home with certificates of participation, get a free seat (for company CEO) at the Awards Night and enjoy a one-year free digital access to The Star e-paper and four regional e-papers, namely, The Jakarta Post, The Nation, The Philippine Daily Inquiry and China Daily Asia Weekly.
SOBA 2017 is organised by Star Media Group with AmBank, DiGi and HRDF as main sponsors, CGC as co-sponsor, Matrade as official trade promotion partner and Connexion Conference & Event Centre as official venue sponsor.
It is endorsed by the Secretariat for the Advancement of Malaysian Entrepreneurs (SAME), Prime Minister’s Department, and the Finance and International Trade and Industry ministries.
It is supported by Bursa Malaysia and audited by BDO, with 988, SuriaFM and dimsum as official media partners.
For enquiries, call The Star events business unit at 03-7967 1388 ext 1432 (Jasmine)/ 1657 (Victor) or visit www.soba.com.my