Business managers, step right up as this may be your lucky year.
The Sheikh Khalifa Excellence Award (Skea) is looking for candidates who have a shot at winning accolades at its 13th annual awards ceremony.
Skea has introduced new categories this year, which include excellence in leadership, customer service, community service and corporate social responsibility, Saeed Abdul Jalil Al Fahim, the chairman of the awards committee, said yesterday.
The existing awards are in diamond, gold and silver categories. They include industry, services, tourism and health.
The awards are open to businesses of all sizes, but increasingly small and medium-sized businesses are gaining ground. Last year they accounted for 30 per cent of the winners and are growing by 5 per cent a year.
UAE policymakers have been counting on smaller businesses to play a key role in the development of the economy. SMEs account for 86 per cent of the workforce in the private sector, according to the Ministry of Economy. Nearly 300,000 companies can be classified as part of the SME sector, ministry data showed.
The UAE is especially keen to give its nationals a chance of helping the economy by starting their own businesses and a number of big companies are promoting the initiative by inviting SMEs to be their suppliers.
“The award has turned out to play a more effective role at the level of the private sector in Abu Dhabi and enhanced its contribution to sustainable economic development,” Mr Al Fahim said. “It has raised efficiency and effectiveness, which have helped to curtail cost and improve the quality of products and services.”
Registrations for the awards started yesterday and continue until the end of May. Skea has set August 14 as the last day for submitting the participation documents. The process of assessment and evaluation will start in mid-September and go on until the end of October.
mkassem@thenational.ae
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