New Awards Categories stimulate interest

Those who were familiar with the Indian Newslink Indian Business Awards (IBA) entry form 2010 will notice a few changes this year.

As before, the entry form is in two parts – Part 1 and Part 2, which contains the category questions.

Part 1, to be answered by all entrants and looks at three areas – About Your Business, Business Performance, and Business Results.

Previous entrants will be familiar with the question relating to ‘About Your Business.’ It provides an opportunity for a short pitch on what your business does and how well it does. It also provides IBA judges with an early snapshot of the type of business you operate, which helps them to evaluate the rest of the entry.

The Business Performance question has five bullet points, each of which requires an answer. There is a 500-word limit for this question and it is worth 25% of the total marks for the entry, so it is an important part of the entry.

The Business Process

The bullet points follow normal business planning processes – goals and strategies, product and service standards, marketing and sales, leadership and management, and business management systems.

The Business Results matrix is where you complete important financial and management data so that the judges can get an understanding of three-year performance trends in your business.

Part 2 of the entry form is for the category questions, and half of the possible marks for each entry is allocated to the answer. There are 10 categories, plus an additional two categories, ‘Best Young Entrepreneur’ and ‘Best Businesswoman.’

Changes to these categories for 2011 include combining the Small Business and Medium Sized Business Category into a new SME (Small and Medium Sized Enterprise) category. This category now covers all businesses, which employ up to 25 full time employees (FTEs).

A full time employee works 40 hours per week, so if there are two part-timers, each working 20 hours a week, they would be counted as one FTE.

Honouring Growers

The other new categories include ‘Business Excellence in Agriculture & Horticulture’ and ‘Business Excellence in Property Investment.’

The Agriculture and Horticulture category recognises the important role that the Indian business community has played in farming businesses in New Zealand. The objective is to enable all those Indian businesses throughout New Zealand that are dairy farming, market gardening, or engaged in similar land-based activities to enter a Special Award category.

The detailed question looks at the strategic aims of the business, market focus, employee development, and awareness on the impact on the environment.

There are questions on the use of technology and application of innovation in making the farming business more productive. And there is a wrap up question, which asks what critical success factors are measured and monitored.

Property Investors

The Property Investment category has been included by popular request.

There are a number of excellent Indian property investor businesses throughout New Zealand who have been looking for an awards programme, which caters to their specialist area of expertise.

Property investment is a specialised area of business, which requires professional investment decision-making processes, with a strong focus on the required return on investment. This category is for property investment businesses that take financial risk in the purchase, improvement, marketing and tenanting of real property, both residential and commercial.

This Award is not intended to cater for real estate sales, leasing and property management agencies.

The Property Investment category question looks for the strategic product and market focus and the business drivers for property selection. The question seeks information about tenant selection and management, and the criteria applied.

Chad Wilkie is the Chairman of the Panel of Judges for IBA 2011 and Executive Director of Ignition Partner. He is an experienced adviser on shaping businesses for growth, and structuring deals to achieve business growth.