Midrand | Thursday
LOCAL businesses should be applauded for their invaluable contributions to the economy, President Thabo Mbeki said on Wednesday evening.
”I think we are all coming to understand what we mean to be as South Africans, as contributors to the prosperity of this nation,” he said at the President’s Award for Export Achievement and the MTN/Business Day Technology Top 100 in Johannesburg.
”What has also stood out in recent years is an improved domestic and global competitiveness of our companies.”
The overall winners were Hulett Aluminium which took the President’s Award for Export Achievement in 2001 and Allied Technologies Ltd. (Altech) was the winner of the Minister’s Award for Technological Excellence.
Parsec Holdings was voted the overall winner of the Minister’s Award for the Most Outstanding SME for 2001 and KPL Die Casting was the winner of the Minister’s Award for Outstanding Entrepreneurial Achievement.
The MTN/Business Day Technology Top 100 Award went to Allied Technologies.
Mbeki said there had been significant developments on the local front since last year’s award ceremony.
He said the launch of the Proudly South African campaign provided an opportunity for every South African to actively support job creation.
Mbeki also said the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (Nepad) was another important initiative to uplift the continent.
”It is in this overall positive national and continental context that we find ourselves and must locate our business perspectives.
”The challenge facing all our companies here tonight is to find the best possible ways in which we can use this climate to make more inroads into the international markets.”
Mbeki said he was pleased that 40% of the total field of qualifiers for the awards were small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
”I have felt strongly that this very important section of our business community had not received the kind of attention it deserves. This year we are correcting this oversight by recognising them as a vital force in our economy.”
Across all the award schemes and categories, there were 118 entrants, including 47 SMEs.
This was the first time the SME awards were presented at the competition. They were sponsored by the People’s Bank and endorsed by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research and the Sunday Times.
Trade and Industry Minister Alec Erwin and Arts, Culture, Science and Technology Minister Ben Ngubane also attended the ceremony.
Ngubane told the winners that the achievements confirmed beliefs that as nation, South Africans could hold their heads up high.
”This is a story of considerable increase in export earnings, it is a story of continued growth and of South African designed and manufactured products and processes occupying top positions in viciously competitive international markets,” he said. – Sapa