Entries open for 2019 Exporter of the Year
Exporters Eastern Cape opened entries for the Exporter of the Year competition at a factory tour of S4 Integration – 2018’s overall winner of Exporter of the Year – on Friday.
The Exporter of the Year awards honour exporters and service providers who have excelled in the period under review – the 2018/2019 financial year – and, for the first time, businesses can enter online.
S4 Integration marketing manager Gideon Smith said: “Exporters gives you the platform. You will see the benefits.
“Take the opportunities, take the risk and you will not stagnate.”
S4 Integration is a turnkey automation and machinebuilding solution which was awarded the Exporter of the Year in 2018.
Smith said the company’s success was mainly due to its customer-centric approach and consistent drive to meet consumer needs.
“Whatever the customer’s requirement is, we can meet their needs from concept to commissioning.
“We do not want to be only a product supplier, we want to be a complete solution to a problem.
“We have well-educated, well-trained and completely dedicated staff – our customers see it and they want to continue working with us.”
Exporters Eastern Cape chair Quintin Levey encouraged all in industry to enter.
“If you do not enter, you cannot win.
“Judging criteria include qualitative and quantitative and all judges are independent from the exporters,” Levey said.
The various categories awarded at the annual Exporter of the Year event are:
● IDC Job Creation Award (exporters who have created the most new sustainable jobs within their business in the past financial year);
● SJM Flex Environmental Practice Award (exporters who have not yet achieved environmental accreditation and who pursue activities towards environmental sustainability);
● SJM Flex Environmental Award (exporters who have environmental accreditation and who pursue excellence in environmental management);
● Best Provider of Services to Exporters (all service providers to the export industry);
● Best Exporter: Small Business (exporters with direct and indirect export turnover below R25m);
● Best Exporter: Medium Enterprises (exporters with direct and indirect export turnover between R25m and R200m);
● Best Exporter: Corporate Category (exporters with direct and indirect export turnover greater than R200m);
● Best Exporter: OEM (exporters who are manufacturers or original equipment suppliers for the automotive industry); and
● Exporter of the Year 2019 (the entity which, in the judges’ opinion, achieved the most success in the period under review).
Companies can download the entry form from the website, www.exportersec.co.za, or complete the online form. Entries close on June 3 2019. Winners will be announced at the Exporter of the Year banquet to be held at the Boardwalk ICC on August 16.