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/ 10 December 2003

Tech industry kept on its toes

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The Technology Top 100 is an odd competition. Winners receive an award but no money. Even small enterprises have to fly themselves to the gala dinner in Midrand.

And the process of applying is arduous. Stage two finds applicants filling in a detailed, 32-page questionnaire. Stage three requires applicants — whether from tiny, community-based companies in a small town in Limpopo or from BMW — to submit meekly to a two-hour-long, face-to-face grilling generally held at their business so the adjudicators can have a good sniff around. In terms of fun, the process probably hovers somewhere between a tax audit and the Hefer commission.

So why is it that there was a 37% increase in entries compared to last year?

“It’s due to a much improved publicity campaign, with an explicit focus on technology awareness in general,” says competition coordinator Dr Elsbeth Dixon. “What has also worked well is that we have worked very hard to establish relationships with provincial governments, which have helped us reach grassroots enterprises.”

The Technology Top 100 also functions as an inexpensive and impartial business assessment, which may be why previous winners keep volunteering to take part and why Nigeria, Ghana and the Cameroon are interested in participating in sister efforts on the continent.

Administrator Carol Varga reports that she has already fielded about 20 enquiries from entrepreneurs wanting to know the opening date for the 2004 entries (see the website www.tt100.co.za for details).

There were two major awards this year. James Grcic, owner and founder of Computer Storage Services Africa in Midrand, spent 18 months developing home-grown techniques for data recovery and computer forensics.

Now he sells the South African technology for foreign exchange royalties to 14 branches of the company dotted around the world. The company has practically cornered the market and is one of the top three in the world. It wins the overall technology excellence award for a small enterprise. In the same overall technology excellence category, the prize resized for larger enterprises, John du Toit, group marketing manager from Bell Equipment of Richard’s Bay in KwaZulu-Natal, walked off with an award from Minister of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology Ben Ngubane.

Bell makes the earth move — literally. It manufactures and exports earth-moving equipment used in mining, construction and quarrying. Its most popular export, the articulated dump truck, is an example of South African products being globally competitive.

Other category winners include:

  • Outstanding community-based technology enterprise: paraplegic Solly Maake found life after a car accident dull and started Omnipak in Limpopo. Now many of the formerly unemployed people of Duiwelskloof manufacture and supply plastic bottles and drums.

  • Outstanding women’s technology company: former biologist Margaret Crampton runs the Internet-based academic search engine National Inquiry Services Centre (NISC) from Grahamstown, where she utilises the talents of researchers working from home across the world, reading journals, paraphrasing them, indexing keywords and putting all the information on the Net for harassed professors. A particular focus is bringing the work of African researchers to the rest of the world.

  • Small enterprise demonstrating social and environmental responsibility: Canadian-born Salim Ayob runs the Sparkle Glass recycling centre in Polokwane, offering township schoolchildren the chance to earn money for their schools by collecting everything from plate glass to mayonnaise bottles in exchange for vouchers redeemable at the local Mica Hardware.

  • Outstanding intellectual capital management: Cassim Parak, founder and shareholder of e.com institute in Sandton, won this award for the 100% black economic empowerment company, which develops technology platforms and sells them abroad instead of importing foreign technology. The company focuses on expansion on the continent and earlier this year set up an office in Namibia.

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