The government's National Awards for Excellence guage local products in light of international standards, writes Pierre Loza A large number of entrepreneurs anxiously anticipated the announcement of the winners of the second National Awards for Excellence, sponsored by the Ministry of Trade and Industry in association with the Industry Modernisation Programme (IMP), in December. The presence of Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif and Minister of Trade and Industry Rachid Mohamed Rachid added to the excitement of the participants, who were eager for photo ops with the officials after the prizes were announced. A glossy golden cup, LE100000 and recognition for excellence are among the competition's perks for winners. For excellence in quality for large enterprises, the prize went to heavyweight Proctor & Gamble (P&G). P&G's General Manager Mohamed Samir said the company would donate the prize money to the Industry Modernisation Centre (IMC) to assist other Egyptian firms in modernising. El-Salihia Olive Oil Pressers won the prize for medium-sized enterprises, while Apollo Print Media and Frank Knoe Egypt shared the winnings in the small enterprises category. The intention was to award seven prizes, but the Innovation for Small Enterprises Award was excluded in order not to reduce the prize money awarded to Frank Knoe Egypt and Apollo Print Media. The prize for exports in the large enterprises category was grabbed by Sidi Krir Petrochemicals, which exports at a value of LE600 million annually and employs 800 workers. Marble producer Alex Styles won the same prize for medium-sized enterprises for exporting LE16 million-worth of goods. The award for innovation in the medium-sized enterprise category went to Alpha Electronics. The true value of the awards lies in the fact that it assesses the performance of firms according to international standards. Each firm is evaluated for 400 hours during six months by 65 monitors, including academics and veteran industrialists. In the end, a report is written highlighting each company's weaknesses and strengths, and applicants to the award benefit from access to the technical assistance programme of the IMC. Award organisers hope that as the contest develops, it will become an independent body in the near future. With a standard registration fee of LE100 for all participants and a LE5000 application fee for large enterprises, LE3000 for medium-sized enterprises and LE2000 for small companies, the contest appears to be geared towards more affluent market players. "There are few awards that are recognised as fair, honest and transparent and we are striving for that," stated IMC Executive Director Adham Nadim in his opening speech, adding that a Saudi Arabian delegation was monitoring the event to learn from Egypt's experience in organising contests. "After monitoring winning companies last year, we found that the process encouraged them to open new markets and increase their exports and investments, in effect bolstering Egypt's industrial development," noted Nadim. He added that all participants were "winners". Nadim hoped that a more expansive regional prize can be developed in the future so Arab producers could also compete. German-born entrepreneur Frank Knoe competed on behalf of Frank Knoe Egypt last year as well. Leading a small pharmaceutical packaging company based in 6th of October City, Knoe believes that winning the prize for quality is recognition of his efforts since 1992. "When we first started, there were six pharmaceutical companies all in the public sector," he said, "now, we have over 50 and they are all in the private sector." Knoe first learned about the competition when he contacted the IMC to ask for help setting up an export office. In fact, Knoe became an exporter by chance when his pharmaceutical client began exporting medicine that was packaged by his company. "An important weakness which the award's evaluation report highlighted was the fact that we are not diversified enough in management," he admitted. "We have few people doing many tasks at the company, which is an inherent problem for many small companies." Rachid was keen on highlighting the positive economic outlook over the past year, quoting that during the first quarter of fiscal year 2006- 2007, industry grew by 7.2 per-cent; the economy as a whole grew by 7.1 per-cent. "This extra 0.1 per-cent from the industrial sector shows that industry is indeed an engine for growth," Rachid told the audience. He also noted an increase in investment which tripled from LE5.7 billion in fiscal 2003-2004 year to LE16.4 billion last year; while investment in industry has also doubled from last year's LE3.2 billion. With plans to modernise and develop distribution channels domestically, encourage higher value-added industries and an aggressive technical training policy, Rachid believes Egypt can sustain its growth levels and even improve them. He also mentioned the simplification and streamlining of factory monitoring procedures to improve performance. "The consumer protection law which will be issued soon will allow us to test counterfeit goods and fight fraud," he declared, "which I believe is something that will benefit Egyptian industry as a whole."
