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: