Recognising Outstanding SMEs
2013
Highlights
The Local Legends competition is meant to achieve the following:
- Recognise small and medium enterprises that are performing well.
- Create an interactive platform where SMEs get to meet successful local role models.
- Inspire SMEs towards greatness, and realisation of the fact that with hard (and smart) work, anyone can make it.
- Encourage SMEs to raise their performance and standards.
- Create a credible, merit-based and objective award for entrepreneurs.
- Set up a mentorship program for SMEs and entrepreneurs.
Format
Quarterly awards
The Local Legends series will start off with quarterly breakfast meetings at which there will be awards given to the best small and medium enterprises for that quarter. We will also award sectoral certificates for the best-performing enterprises within each sector. These enterprises will be selected from the membership of the SME Association of Zimbabwe. Selection of winners will be on the basis of a rigorous scoring sheet (shown at the end of this document) as well as ratings of these entities from their customers and suppliers as shown in our business directory.
Our Guest of Honour for each event will be an entrepreneur who has grown to become a large enterprise. This Guest of Honour will give a brief run-down of how they made it to the top, and what the key qualities are that entrepreneurs should cultivate in order to also be successful.
Year-end Awards Ceremony
The finale for this event will be held on the 28th of November 2013, and will incorporate all the quarterly winners going into a pool from which overall winners will be selected. Evaluations for the overall winner will be based on final assessments done in October and November for all previous winners. We will also have Achievers' Awards for SMEs that would have graduated to become large corporations within that year.
Advantages to the SMEs
Although the awards themselves will be a notable achievement and a stamp of approval for winners, the bigger objective is to incentivise the adoption and implementation of best business practice within SMEs. We expect that the competition will foster a culture of constant improvement, which is essential if Zimbabwe is to rise from the current tag of being known for inferior products and services.
It will create a platform for the spotlighting of the winning entities, which will also garner further interest in them, and thus boost their business. It will therefore be good for business for any SME to participate.
Winning an award in this prestigious event will open doors for getting other support such as loans and investments, for winners. It makes strong business sense to participate.
Score Sheet
The score sheet is as contained at the end of this proposal. Although it may seem stringent, the idea is to get SMEs to start working on certain key aspects of their business which are important if they are to apply for bank loans, or seek investors. In the medium term, things like listing on the proposed SME Stock Exchange will require that they be compliant in these regards.
Judges
Judges will be professionals drawn from the banking, auditing and consulting fraternity to give objectivity and impartiality. The Association will merely carry out the initial screening process to short-list a pre-defined number of entrants to be passed onto the judges. Finer details of the judging process will be worked out, and potential judges have been identified.
Mentoring and Assistance
Given that the primary objective of this competition is to foster higher standards of operation, entrants to the competition will be given access to their evaluation sheets, and will be given an opportunity to interact with either the panel of judges (top ten entrants), or members of staff in order to find out how to address their shortcomings.
There will also be mentorship opportunities availed, dependent on the number of volunteers for this aspect. There will therefore be continuous opportunities for business improvement, and everyone will be a winner, despite the fact that only one entrant in each category makes it to the finals for the year-end event.
Participation
Participation to this program will be open to small and medium sized enterprises that are paid-up members of the SME Association of Zimbabwe.
Download Application Form Here
The Association will identify appropriate Guests of Honour from amongst the country’s flourishing large enterprises which were started from scratch.
Sponsorships
Sponsorship opportunities are available for Affiliate members of the Association. Details can be discussed on an individual basis. You can contact Farai Mutambanengwe on 0778 055076 or e-mail