The Ghana Investments Promotion Centre (GIPC), on Friday launched its 2009 Ghana Club 100 (GC100) Awards at its new plush offices at the Gulf House near Tetteh Quarshie Circe in Accra.
Mr. Robert Ahomka-Lindsay, Chief Executive Officer of the GIPC, who gave a brief history and outline of the GC100 Awards instituted in 1997, said the Centre would focus on corporate excellence to encourage businesses in Ghana to demonstrate and lead the nation's efforts in the global business environment.
This year's event, which is the eighth edition and has the theme: "Celebrating Ghana's Business Leaders", has been chosen to incorporate government's vision for the private sector which drives the overall strategic direction of the GIPC.
The awards would be celebrated in ten key strategic sectors, namely Agriculture and Agri-business; Financial Services; Information, Communication Technology; Infrastructure, Education, Health, Manufacturing, Petroleum and Mining; Services; and Tourism.
Mr. Ahomka-Lindsay touched on the new criteria for the awards and said this would be based on the assessment of company size, growth, and profitability.
He announced a number of changes to bring the eligibility criteria in line with the stated objectives, adding that companies must be in good standing with statutory authorities such as Internal Revenue Service, Valued Added Tax Secretariat, and the Social Security and national Insurance Trust.
Mr. Ahomka-Lindsay said all entrants were also required to file their most recent three-year audited accounts.
He said the event would also celebrate a number of other awards including naming the overall "Ghana's Most Respected Business - 2009", adding that an additional 20 awards under the Special category would be presented.
He, however, explained that these would be discretionary and based on GIPC's GC 100 Committee recommendations.
Mr. Ahomka-Lindsay said this year's awards followed extensive consultations with key stakeholders to upgrade qualifying criteria "to reflect our development needs and to celebrate the creation of new businesses".
He said Winners would be recognized for their sector focus, actual growth, profitability, return on equity and potential.
Mr. Ahomka-Lindsay said "The GC 100 is also working with the Ghana Business Code to incorporate key elements of the code to provide a value based analysis of companies, corporate culture rather than a simple review of how much money each company may have spent on corporate social responsibility."
He said special awards would also be presented to entrepreneurs and outstanding performers in the small and medium scale enterprises.
Mr. Ahomka-Lindsay mentioned other special awards under consideration as the GC 100 2009 Entrepreneur of the Year; GC 100 2009 Most Respected Company; GC 100 2009 Award for Best Training and Development; GC 100 2009 Best Listed Company on Ghana Stock Exchange; and GC 100 2009 Award for CSR.
Also to be thought about were GC 100 2009 Award for Best Emerging Company - Petroleum; GC 100 2009 Award for Best Customer Service; GC 100 2009 Award for Best Labour Relations; GC 100 2009 Award for Best in Store Design; and GC 100 2009 Award for Best Product Design.
Speaking on the time table for the event, Mr Ahomka-Lindsay said data collection for the event commences on March 9, 2009 and closes on April 30, 2009 while the collation of results are to be completed on May 18, 2009.
He said the final artwork for adverts and profiles for Ghana Club 100 Special Magazine were to be received by April 17.
The main Award Ceremony comes off on May 29, 2009 at the Accra International Conference Centre to close the Ghana Investment Forum 2009.