Technology Fast50 Africa programme offers established technology companies an important vehicle to profile their business, and receive recognition for surviving and thriving in an extremely uncertain economy over the last five years. The competition is organised by Deloitte, with several companies partnering on this programme. The programme is billed as:
The Deloitte Technology Fast50 Africa Programme is the region’s most objective industry-ranking to focus on the technology field, recognising technology companies that have achieved the fastest rates of revenue growth in Africa over the past five years.
Why participate in Technology Fast50 Africa programme
The benefits of participating include:
- Receiving industry recognition for achieving sustainable success over the last five years, a time which has seen economic instability and uncertainty; and
- An abundance of free local and regional publicity and marketing; and
- A boost in your company image to employees and clients; and
- Recognition for industry sector and regional winners; and
- An exclusive invitation to the winners awards ceremony; and
- Automatic entry into the Deloitte Technology Fast500 EMEA, a ranking of the 500 fastest-growing technology companies in Europe, the Middle East and Africa over the last five years.
In an increasingly competitive space, being successful in this competition provides credibility to businesses seeking to expand.
Criteria
In order to be eligible for the Technology Fast50 Africa recognition, companies must:
- Be in business for a minimum of five years (on or prior to December 31, 2008).
- Have base-year operating revenues of at least USD 70 000 and a current year operating revenues of at least USD 500 000.
- Have headquarters within the African continent (subsidiaries do not qualify).
- Be majority owned and run by African citizens.
- Own proprietary intellectual property or proprietary technology and it must be sold to customers in products that contribute to a majority of the company’s operating revenues.
- Using other companies’ proprietary technology or intellectual property in a unique way does not satisfy this requirement. Consulting companies, professional service firms, resellers, and others are not eligible unless a majority (greater than 50%) of the company’s operating revenues is derived from product sales that incorporate the company’s proprietary technology, exclusive of related service revenue.
Start Ups?
We asked Jonathan Houston, one of the leads in South Africa, if they had any intentions to consider small businesses and startups. The encouraging response from his was:
We are focussing on the established companies as at this stage we are not providing seed funding or cash investments to organisations. As the Fast 50 grows we would like to drive the entry criteria down to make the programme more inclusive; but at this stage we are only focussed on the established companies. We want to reward and recognise them for their efforts of surviving and thriving in the current economy.
It is thus important to continue following this initiative as in future years, the criteria may benefit those of us starting out. Nonetheless, it will be extremely useful to learn which companies qualify and to learn lessons from them.
More information
All the information you may need to enter this competition is on the Fast 50 Africa (Click Here) . Contact information for regional contacts are available, by clicking here.