Entries for the 2014 Entrepreneur of the Year awards will close on the 16 June 2014. The organisers of this competition explain their aims as follows:
The Sanlam / Business Partners Entrepreneur of the Year® awards aims to honour, benefit and uplift South African SMEs. The competition celebrates excellence in entrepreneurship, serving as an inspiration to others to succeed in the world of business.
The competition can be entered online, by clicking here.
Criteria – Entrepreneur of the Year
- Emerging Entrepreneur: An entrepreneur who has been in their present business for a maximum of 5 years and with a turnover not exceeding R5 million on the date the entry form is received by the steering committee.
- Small Business Entrepreneur: An entrepreneur who runs a business, irrespective of length of time during which it has been active, with a turnover of between R5 million and R20 million in the tax year immediately preceding the date of entering the competition.
- Medium Business Entrepreneur: An entrepreneur who runs a business, irrespective of the length of time during which it has been active, with a turnover of R20 million or more in the tax year immediately preceding the date of entering the competition. Controlling owner must be stated.
- Job Creator of the Year: An entrepreneur who not only employs a significant number of employees, but also plays a key role in uplifting, up-skilling and training them. They help towards making a dent in the unemployment rate of the community, area, province and country where the business is situated.
- Lifetime Achiever Award: An entrepreneur who has, over the years, shown fortitude and strength in the entrepreneurial arena, and developed a business that has size, longevity and profitability.
- Innovator of the Year: An entrepreneur who has the ability to:
- Reinvent the way business is done in his/her industry
- Be innovative in the product or service being offered to the market; and/or
- Finds a way of drawing the best qualified and technical people in the industry and keeping them because of creating a special environment where employees can flourish
- Entrepreneur of the Year®: The overall winner is selected out of the emerging, small, or medium categories.
Judging process
The judging process is completely independent and is comprised of a panel of five judges, who represent different areas of the business community.
The evaluation process runs through three different filtering processes, or stages, which ensure that all are checked and rechecked to remove human error and subjectivity.
These stages include:
- Preliminary screening of the entry forms to shortlist within the three main categories of emerging entrepreneur, small business entrepreneur and medium business entrepreneur.
- Financial information and supporting documents are requested from this list. The data requested gives the judges very important and critical information which they need in order to make a complete and holistic judgment on the candidate being reviewed. From here 14 finalists are chosen.
- The judging process is completed by an interview with each finalist to ensure that any questions or issues needing clarity are addressed. An on-site visit at the businesses may also be conducted.
This in-depth judging process culminates in 6 winners being announced and honoured at our breakfast awards ceremony in September each year.