The evening of November 28 saw one of the UAE’s most prestigious business occasions - the ADCB Stars of Business Awards 2013. In the dazzling setting of the Jumeirah Beach Hotel’s seafront arena, the gala hosted 660 guests, all ready to honour the star performers in the SME universe.

The ADCB Stars of Business awards - organized and hosted by CPI Media Group - is the largest professional awards event in the GCC, attracting no fewer than 4,947 entries and recognising top achievers across 26 specialist business categories. This year’s event recorded the largest-ever pool of nominations and saw entries from as far afield as Jordan, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Top SME performers such as Just Falafel, German Imaging Technologies and Healthcare MENA scooped some of the key honours, with hotly-contested shortlists across all 26 awards categories.

But there was no doubt about the shining star of the evening – Healthcare MENA with a stunning three awards. Narrowly beating double winner, Cobone.com

The ADCB Stars of Business awards were preceded by a keynote management Summit entitled ‘The Power to Achieve’. This featured an expert role-call of nine leading speakers identifying the key success factors that can leverage The Power to Achieve. Presentations looked at topics such as the role of strategic planning, getting finance, business analytics and the appetite for risk that can either supercharge or eliminate the up-and-coming business. Culminating with the region’s leading business Awards ceremony, the day’s itinerary was a powerful catalyst for building the further success of the GCC’s SME community.

The Awards derive their popularity and appeal from the fact that in order to be shortlisted, each nomination is assessed, audited and ranked by leading ratings agency Dun & Bradstreet. The audit process uses -

• Expert financial comparisons.

• An evaluation matrix turning qualitative data and comments into statistical rankings.

• A panel of nine expert judges evaluating the final shortlist of three businesses per category.

The Judging panel comprises key names from the SME community, leading-light SME suppliers and subject experts from business schools and the financial community. This year’s Chair of the Judging panel was Howard Gaunt, Executive Vice President, Head of Corporate Business Banking Group, ADCB.

Top performers honoured by the Judges this year included -

• Excellence in Construction and Real Estate - Al Ain Oilfield Services Company LLC

• Best Professional Services - The Statistics Centre

• Arab Entrepreneur of the Year - Fadi Malas, CEO, Just Falafel

• People’s Choice - TUV SUD Middle east

• Star of Business - Healthcare MENA

Sponsors of the event included Platinum Sponsor Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB), Telecoms Partner du, Insurance Partner AIG, Associate Partner Dun & Bradstreet, Business Sponsor Servcorp, and Technology Partner SAP.
 

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