Fifty Singapore small and medium-sized enterprises were honoured for their business resilience, and for successfully navigating the uncertain economic landscape at the 28th edition of the Enterprise 50 (E50) Awards today.
The awards, themed “Ready, Reset, Grow”, spotlighted companies which were able to reset their strategies by harnessing technology, or pivot business models to stay relevant and grow both locally and abroad.
The evening’s Guest-of-Honour was Ms Low Yen Ling, Minister of State, Ministry of Culture, Community & Youth and Ministry of Trade & Industry. After two years of hybrid-styled celebrations due to the Covid-19 pandemic, this year’s awards ceremony was held at Resorts World Convention Centre, Sentosa.
Since its inception in 1995, the E50 Awards has recognised more than 700 companies across key business sectors in Singapore. The E50 awards is co-organised by The Business Times and KPMG in Singapore. OCBC Bank is the presenting sponsor.
The top three winners of this year’s E50 awards are:
- 1st place: BR Metals for developing innovative solutions such as an automated bulk sampling system that improves efficiency, reduces processing time and wastage from human errors.
- 2nd place: Yeap Medical Supplies for its diversification strategy that boosted market presence across retail channels, e-market places and supply partners.
- 3rd place: Apro Asian Protection Pte Ltd for effective transformation - through investing in digital systems, new capabilities and human capital - that allows for more service offerings.
Four Special Awards were also given out this year to the following companies:
- BR Metals was conferred the Internationalisation Award for winning multiple projects across Asia.
- Minmed Group Pte Ltd won the Enterprise Transformation Award for its ability to diversify its business in a dynamic and fast-paced environment.
- Knight Auto Precision Engineering Pte Ltd, Sing Fuels Pte Ltd, and D-Team Engineering Pte Ltd received the 5-Year Award for being an E50 awardee in five consecutive years.
- Supreme Components International Pte Ltd bagged the 10-Year Award for winning the E50 awards 10 times. The company joined E50 for the first time in 2011 and is one of only three 10-time winners in the history of the awards.
Ms Chen Huifen, Editor of The Business Times said: "Even as we are adjusting to a post-pandemic future, our companies are confronted by new challenges, from the fallout of the Ukraine war and the rising costs of doing business, to geopolitical tensions in the region. Yet despite the perceived gloom, we take heart that there are enterprises -- not just a handful but at least 50 of them - that continue to do well. This shows that companies, like human resilience, will always find new ways to bloom regardless of the environment."
Mr. Chiu Wu Hong, Partner & Head of Private Enterprise, KPMG in Singapore said: “An uncertain environment demands that businesses relentlessly invest in order to progress – be it in R&D, technologies and new markets or even pivoting to new business models. Many of the E50 companies recognised today have exemplified these best practices. For instance, 64 percent of them have capitalised on international expansion to drive revenue growth. Others have been diligently adopting digital technology, rethinking supply chains to stay competitive, as well as increasing production efficiency and production capacity through automation. They are also actively onboarding emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to capture data, analyse and learn from customer behaviours before rolling out products and services. These are positive signs for Singapore as it demonstrates the progressiveness of this year’s top 50 enterprises and their determination to scale and succeed despite global challenges.”
The success stories of the E50 award winners will be showcased in a commemorative publication to be released at next year’s event. This year’s book, the 14th edition of “Enterprise 50 – The Best SMEs in Singapore”, profiles winners of the 2021 E50 awards. Aimed at championing local businesses and inspiring future generations of entrepreneurs and leaders, the book is an annual joint initiative between the E50 organisers and the National University of Singapore (NUS) Business School. Every year, a limited number of copies signed by the Guest-of-Honour of the event are available for purchase at S$5,000 each, in support of the NUS Business School Bursary Fund.. Since the inception of this fund-raising initiative, S$812,000 has been raised.
The full list of winners for the 2022 E50 Awards can be found in the 
Annex.