Members of the Business Excellence Awards (BEA) 2019 judging panel have been selected.
Mr Oscar Vahimana and his group of judges are expected to complete their task this week.
The 2019 Business Excellence Awards (BEA) judging panel are thoroughly assessing each submission from businesses and are expected to complete their task this week, the Solomon Islands Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SICCI) reveals.
SICCI Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Ms Atenasi Ata says the judging panel this year comprises of independent experts, with each one well known in their respective fields.
For this year’s BEA selection of winners, the five-member panel is drawn from the Central Bank of Solomon Islands (CBSI), the Young Entrepreneurs Council of Solomon Islands (YECSI), Solomon Islands Women in Business Association (SIWIBA), Development Services Exchange (DSE), and from the media industry.
“The judges have been chosen on the basis of their ability to make independent decisions, combined with their excellent knowledge of the private sector, public sector and communities in Solomon Islands and they will be assessing applications rigorously against established criteria.
“The judges will make all decisions alone, without any undue influence,” the SICCI CEO assures.
Distinguished members of the 2019 BEA judging panel include Dr Luke Forau, Governor of CBSI; John Wopereis who is Coordinator of YECSI; Rachel Rahi, local businesswoman and representing SIWIBA; Jennifer Wate, Secretary General for DSE; and four-time BEA judge, Oscar Vahimana. The group elected Mr Vahimana and Mrs Rahii as the Co-Chairs in their very first meeting on 26th September 2019.
The Business Excellence Awards will now take place on Saturday 30th November at the Coral Sea Resort and Casino from 6pm.
Eleven (11) businesses will be honoured at the award ceremony in the following categories: Entrepreneur of the Year, YECSI Entrepreneur of the Year, Large Business of the Year, Medium Business of the Year, Small Business of the Year, New Business of the Year, Business Contribution to Sustainable Development & Community Award, Innovation & Technology Award, Agribusiness of the Year, Tourism Business of the Year and the Prime Minister’s Business Excellence Award.
The awards ceremony provides the perfect platform for business owners to take a fresh look at their operations, and to present their achievements in the different categories in order to be assessed by the panel of judges.
The ultimate award of the ceremony, the Prime Minister’s Business Excellence Award, which will be the finale of the event, will be chosen by the judges and presented by the Prime Minister himself. The winner is chosen as the standout application from the nominations received.
SICCI Membership Services Officer, Naomi Mara assisted all the companies interested in nominating for the Awards.
“The nomination period was a very busy time for us at the Secretariat. We facilitated a lot of queries from companies wanting to know more about the categories for the awards. I understand that this year we received the highest number of nominations in the BEA’s history.
“We at the Secretariat are also eager along with all nominees, to hear the winners announced on the night,” says Ms Nara.
For the first time ever, the Business Excellence Awards will be televised live this year thanks to a collaboration between SICCI, Our Telekom and Telekom Television (TTV).
All ticket sales will be finalised by Friday 15th November 2019. The Chamber encourages those who have booked a table or individual tickets to settle as booked tickets which are not paid for by Friday 15 November will be sold.
The 2019 Business Excellence Awards event is proudly sponsored by: Solomon Islands Government; BRED Bank; Bank of South Pacific (BSP); Strongim Bisnis; RICOH; Our Telekom; Coral Sea Resort; Kokonut Pacific (KPSI); Guadalcanal Travel Service (GTS); SATSOL; Solomon Star; Telekom Television TTV; Solbrew; Solomon Islands National Provident Fund; Island Sun; Millicent Designs; Sullivans; YECSI; Guadalcanal Plains Palm Oil Ltd (GPPOL); DJ Graphics and AdKonect.
Source: SICCI Media