Exporters Eastern Cape to honour innovation and resilience

Entries are open for Exporters Eastern Cape’s prestigious Exporter of the Year Awards 2021, which this year focuses on showcasing exporters’ achievements in the face of 2020’s challenges.

Exporters Eastern Cape chair Quintin Levey said the organisers of the awards acknowledge that 2020 has been a challenging year for all industries, with the lockdowns and loss of income hurting the revenue of exporters and service providers. 

“When judging this year’s entries, we will be focusing on the innovative initiatives our entrants have put in place to manage costs and cash flows, retain employment levels, and their plans to recover to pre-Covid turnover levels. I encourage all exporters and service providers to enter, and not see the impact of Covid-19 on their business as a deterrent, but rather as an opportunity to showcase their achievements, entrepreneurial flair and export innovation,” said Levey.

This year, Exporters Eastern Cape is introducing a new category to the awards: the Transnet Emerging Exporter Award for companies that have been exporting for three years or less.

Other categories include the SJM Flex Environmental Award; the IDC Job Creation Award; Best Provider of Services to Exporters; Best Exporter: Small Business; Best Exporter: Medium Enterprises; Best Exporter: Corporate Category and Best Exporter: OEM. The Overall Exporter of the Year is chosen from these category winners.

Judging criteria includes qualitative and quantitative data, which are thoroughly assessed by an independent panel of judges, and the winners are announced at a gala event planned for Friday, August 20. 

The entry form can be downloaded from the Exporters Eastern Cape website or e-mailing Exporters Eastern Cape branch co-ordinator Suzanne Vermeulen at info@exportersec.co.za. 

All entrants need to submit the completed entry form with relevant documentation, photos and logo to info@exportersec.co.za before the closing date.

The closing date for entries is June 2 2021. 

Last year’s awards event was a special milestone for the organisation, which celebrated 40 years of existence in the Eastern Cape. It was also the first year that the Exporter of the Year Awards was hosted online with an interactive live event. 

S4 Development Services achieved the title of Overall Winner at the Exporter of the Year Awards 2020, and also walked away with the IDC Job Creation Merit Award and Best Exporter Medium Enterprise winner.

Exporters Eastern Cape is a non-profit organisation for members involved in exporting — either directly or indirectly — and represents a broad spectrum of large and smaller export companies, freight forwarders, financial institutions and shipping lines in the Eastern Cape.

For more information about the awards, contact Suzanne Vermeulen at info@exportersec.co.za.

This article was paid for by Exporters Eastern Cape.