Hong Kong's prosperous economy, the addition of new categories and a more stringent selection methodology should make this year's prestigious DHL/SCMP Hong Kong Business Awards one of the best.
This is the general consensus among organisers and judges who met for the first time yesterday to launch the event which now enters its 18th season.
Also set to make this year's event a standout is the decision to expand the reach of the awards to cover the Pearl River Delta, a reflection of the fact that many potential nominees have business operations in the mainland.
'This year we are looking more aggressively to consider, given that the Hong Kong economy is more and more integrated with the whole region, that many of our businesses are really trans-national and we are looking at entrepreneurs not only in Hong Kong, but beyond Hong Kong,' said Professor Richard Wong Yue-chim, chair of the judging panel and a deputy vice-chancellor and professor of economics at the University of Hong Kong.
'We have always taken them into consideration to some extent, but this year this will be a feature. We have reached a stage where like many of our other activities in business, it's really beyond the borders ... look at our stock exchange. Most new IPOs are companies not in Hong Kong.
'This has been a great year for Hong Kong, there is no reason why we would not be able to identify some truly outstanding individuals and companies.'
