ABA recognise outstanding Asean businesses

• New Family Business Award recognises multi-generational family businesses
• This year saw 288 submissions; 76 awards were given to 60 businesses

A TOTAL of 76 awards were given out to 60 outstanding businesses in Asean and beyond at the Asean Business Awards 2018 hosted by Singapore on Nov 12.

Launched in 2007 by Asean BAC, the awards acknowledge and recognise outstanding Asean businesses that have shown significant progress in establishing and reinforcing their positions, in a myriad of industry sectors.

Since its launch, ABA has recognised more than 100 companies throughout the region that excel in the categories of Growth, Employment, Innovation and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

Over the years, Asean-BAC has further expanded the categories of ABA to include the Priority Integration Sectors (PIS) of Asean, as well as recognise outstanding young entrepreneurs, women entrepreneurs and sustainable Social enterprises.

Into its 12th edition, the awards provide an opportunity for businesses to garner greater exposure and expand their network within the Asean business community and the global stage.

Malaysia wins Young Entrepreneur Award

Forest Interactive chief executive officer Johary Mustapha took home the 2018 Malaysia Young Entrepreneur Award.

As a young tech entrepreneur, Johary impressed the judging committee with the rapid growth of the company since its establishment in 2006. Forest Interactive is a multinational technology company that provides multifaceted Platform as a Service (PaaS) specialising in mobile Value-Added Services, programmatic marketing, and telco platforms, as well as a magnitude of game publishing and distribution.

Throughout its inception, Johary has helmed the global operations of Forest Interactive and successfully expanded the company from its headquarters in Malaysia to 10 other offices across the globe. His experience in the business has enabled him to grow the company to a diverse workforce of over 130 talents from 21 nationalities expanding market reach across 36 countries.

Under Johary's leadership, the company has entrenched itself to play an important part within the mobile industry, working with mobile network operators, industry regulators, government agencies, consumer groups and related associations in enabling innovative solutions for the mobile ecosystem.

To date, Forest Interactive has established a competitive portfolio of end-to-end solutions for telco, enterprise and content partners that reach out to more than 2.9 billion subscribers worldwide and has partnered with over 100 corporate clients and 93 mobile operators across Asia, the Middle-East and the US.

In accepting the award, Johary commented, “It is a great honor to be acknowledged for this award, especially representing Malaysia as a tech company. The hard work and patience leading to this success could only be attributed to the team members who have been working long and hard for us to realise this recognition. We wouldn’t be here without them and all our committed partners. Thank you to everyone that has helped made this happen.”

Inaugural Asean Family Business Award

This year, a new award category, the Asean Family Business Award was included to promote the indispensable role family businesses play in the global economy and to recognise outstanding multi-generational family businesses that have made significant impact in the Asean region.

Winners of the inaugural Asean Family Award include Sinouk Coffee Co Ltd from Lao PDR, Century Pacific Food, Inc from the Philippines, Kim Ann Engineering Pte Ltd from Singapore and Nghia Nippers Corporation from Vietnam.

This year saw an overwhelming response of 288 submissions, with a total of 56 country winners, of which eight were crowned overall winners.

Four enterprises honoured with “Friends of Asean” award

Apart from the 56 outstanding Asean businesses, ABA also recognised four non-Asean owned enterprises that have demonstrated a continuous and increased commitment in growing its presence within Asean.

For their positive social and economic contributions to Southeast Asia, Robert Bosch (SEA) Pte Ltd, Omron Asia Pacific, Sap Asia Pte Ltd And Panaust Limited were awarded the “Friend of Asean” accolade.