Up for grabs: Entrepreneur of the Year award

THE BUSINESS community is abuzz with the news that the search for this year’s Entrepreneur of the Year for the Philippines is on. Nominations are now being accepted and will be facilitated by SGV Foundation, Inc. Nomination forms can be downloaded here .

The award is given by the accounting firm Ernst & Young. Past winners include National Bookstore’s Socorro Ramos, Jollibee Foods Corporation’s Tony Tan Caktiong, Alaska Milk’s Wilfred Steven Uytengsu Jr., Cebu Air’s Lance Gokongwei and Senen Bacani of La Frutera Inc.

I’ve met Mrs. Socorro Ramos, fondly called Nanay Coring by everyone, before for a profile for Good Housekeeping Philippines. She was then 83 and was rushing from one meeting to another. It was then almost 3 p.m. and she hadn’t had lunch, thus she urged me to join her for some pancit and barbeque. Nanay Coring works more than 8 hours a day six days a week overseeing the operations of National Bookstore. She says, “If you have the love and passion for what you do, hard work is no longer a sacrifice but a joy. I love this business. Eighty-three na ako pero takbo pa rin ako ng takbo. And you have to be humble. To be a successful tindera, kailangan mas mababa ka sa customer. Give them what they are looking for at the lowest price possible.”

All the previous winners have that same passion for their work. So who could be the next winner?

All Filipino entrepreneurs with businesses operating for at least two years are qualified to be nominated for the prestigious award, as long as they are primarily responsible for their business’s performance. There are five categories:
1. Master Entrepreneur
2. Small Business Entrepreneur
3. Social Entrepreneur
4. Industry-specific Entrepreneur (manufacturing sector)
5. Woman Entrepreneur

Anyone associated with a successful entrepreneur can nominate him for the award; you can even nominate yourself.

Nominees will be judged in the following areas: growth in turnover, profit, and employee number; degree of innovation; development of creative and ingenious production; marketing and selling techniques, and; extent of expansion into local and international markets.

The top winner will represent the Philippines in the World Entrepreneur of the Year awards to be held in Monaco in 2009. Tony Tan Caktiong bested entrepreneurs worldwide for the World Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2004.

Share This