Lesley Stones
22 October 2008
Johannesburg — ABOUT 340 small and medium-sized companies hope to win a listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange after entering the Go4Growth competition.
The contest offers prizes worth R9m in the form of consulting and mentoring services for the top companies, with the overall winner being guided towards a listing on the AltX board.
Go4Growth focuses specifically on small companies that are showing good growth but want to accelerate the pace.
Last year it attracted 208 entrants and the organisers had expected double or treble the number this year.
"While we hoped entries would exceed 400, we believe 340 is a good number given the current economic climate," said Graham Perry, the MD of SAP Growth Support Services, which runs the event.
"We've had responses from companies in various industries including financial services, IT, agriculture, mining and minerals, and some other highly innovative enterprises. We have also seen an increase in the number of larger organisations or mid-sized businesses that have entered this year."
Assessment of the entries has begun and Perry says there are two major criteria for potential winners. "Firstly, the winners must demonstrate a high potential and commitment to growth, and secondly be able to benefit from the prizes they're awarded."
A short list of finalists will take part in a workshop so the judges can assess and understand the businesses better and give them expert advice about their strategies and operations.
"Go4Growth serves as a vehicle to find companies that are doing well and who can benefit from having the right partners on board who can assist them in becoming best-run organisations," Perry said.
The winners will be announced on November 10 at an awards ceremony at the JSE.
SAP will give a suite of its software worth R1m to the overall winner, which will also receive financial advice worth R1m from Deloitte Corporate Finance Advisory. The top companies will also be accessed for possible venture capital funding from the R350m Hasso Plattner venture capital fund.
SAP launched Go4Growth partly as a way to demonstrate that its enterprise resource planning software is no longer purely designed for large businesses. The suite has been scaled down to help the company win more small customers as the market among large businesses reaches saturation.
"SAP has previously been perceived to be too big, complex and expensive," said director Derek Kudsee.
"Through Go4Growth we are able to dispel these perceptions whilst demonstrating our commitment to the small and medium enterprises sector in SA. Ultimately, we are providing opportunities for companies to become a best-run business. "
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 Business Day. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
