Gulf Capital Business of the Year

This award is designed to identify the GCC-based business that can show evidence of maintaining consistent growth and strong financial performance. The winner will have demonstrated how it is delivering its company vision and mission. Entrants for this award must show how they have been successful in delivering key goals, competitor advantage, growth and innovation. Judges will also look for excellent customer service, future growth plan, how the business is developing its employees, the leadership of the business as well as ESG strategies that are in place.

B2B Small Business of the Year

This award is designed to recognize Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and UAE-based B2B Businesses that can show evidence of maintaining consistent growth and strong financial performance. The winner will have demonstrated how it is delivering its company vision and mission. Entrants for this award must show how they have been successful in delivering key goals, competitor advantage, growth, and innovation. Judges will also look for excellent customer service, future growth plan, how the business is developing its employees and the leadership of the business as well as ESG strategies that are in place.

Businesses with a turnover of more than 5m AED / 0.51m Bahraini Dinar / 0.42m Kuwaiti Dinar / 0.52m Omani Rial / 5.1m SAR and less than 40m AED / 4.1m Bahraini Dinar / 3.24m Kuwaiti Dinar / 4.19m Omani Rial / 40.85m SAR; and less than 250 employees are eligible to enter.

B2C Small Business of the Year

This award is designed to recognize Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and UAE-based B2C Businesses that can show evidence of maintaining consistent growth and strong financial performance. The winner will have demonstrated how it is delivering its company's vision and mission. Entrants for this award must show how they have been successful in delivering key goals, competitor advantage, growth, and innovation. Judges will also look for excellent customer service, future growth plans, how the business is developing its employees and the leadership of the business as well as analyze ESG strategies that are in place.

Businesses with turnover of more than 5m AED / 0.51m Bahraini Dinar / 0.42m Kuwaiti Dinar / 0.52m Omani Rial / 5.1m SAR and less than AED 40m / 4.1m Bahraini Dinar / 3.24m Kuwaiti Dinar / 4.19m Omani Rial / 40.85m SAR and less than 250 employees are eligible to enter.

Business Innovation of the Year

This award recognises innovations in any part of a business. The submitted innovation could be a product, service, project or initiative in any department, e.g. customer service, marketing, PR, technology implementation, new product concepts. Entrants must be able to evidence how the innovation has impacted the business and created a competitive advantage in their field.

Business Leader of the Year

This award recognises outstanding leadership within SMEs in the GCC. Judges will look for a leader who can demonstrate examples of excellent business leadership in empowering his/her employees and leadership approach, a successful existing and future growth plan and evidence of how his/her successful leadership has had a direct impact on the success of their business.

Customer Focus of the Year

This award recognises organisations that truly have the customer at the center of their business. The winning business for this category will successfully demonstrate how they have built their business plan keeping their customers at the core, evidencing the development of new services/products and revenue streams according to their customers' needs. Judges will also look for exemplary customer service examples and outstanding communication with customers.

Digital Business of the Year

Open to any Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and UAE business trading online, this award will go to the candidate that can best demonstrate consistent growth and strong financial performance through e-commerce. Judges will look for evidence of concept and product development, exceptional implementation, customer engagement & functionality, and innovation. Entrants for this award must show how they have been successful in delivering key goals, competitor advantage, growth and innovation. Judges will also look for excellent customer service, future growth plans, how the business is developing its employees, the leadership of the business and also measure the ESG strategies that are in place.

Disruption of the Year

This award recognises an SME which has created an innovative disruption in a new market or a disruption in an existing market. The disruption must have gone to market in the last year and be profitable for the business. The winning business must be able to show evidence of how the disruption has changed its market.  Entrants must be able to show judges how the disruption was developed, tested with customers and the tracked results for the business.

Emirati Business of the Year

This award is designed to identify the Emirati-owned and UAE-based business that can show evidence of maintaining consistent growth and strong financial performance. The winner will have demonstrated how it is successfully delivering its company vision and mission. Entrants for this award must show how they have been successful in delivering key goals, competitor advantage, growth and innovation. Judges will also look for excellent customer service, future growth plan, how the business is developing its employees, the leadership of the business and ESG strategies that are in place.

Entrepreneur of the Year

This award will recognise the most inspiring, dynamic, and driven leader. Entrants must show how they have overcome challenges to grow their successful business and how they have achieved this through passion, commitment, innovation, market knowledge as well as inspiring and motivating their team.

FedEx Start-up Business of the Year

This award is designed to identify a start-up business in Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and UAE that can evidence how the business has put in place strong foundations and plans for future growth. The winner will have demonstrated how it has created and is delivering its company vision and mission. Examples of how the business concept, services and products have been developed must be demonstrated together with how the business has communicated with its customer base. Entrants must have been trading for two years or less.

Micro Business of the Year

This award is designed to identify Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and UAE-based businesses that can show evidence of maintaining consistent growth and strong financial performance. The winner will have demonstrated how it is delivering its company vision and mission. Entrants for this award must show how they have been successful in delivering key goals, competitor advantage, growth, and innovation. Judges will also look for excellent customer service, future growth plans, how the business is developing its employees, the leadership of the business as well as ESG strategies that are in place.

Businesses with a turnover of less than 5m AED / 0.51m Bahraini Dinar / 0.42m Kuwaiti Dinar / 0.52m Omani Rial / 5.1m SAR and less than 250 employees are eligible to enter.

New Entrepreneur of the Year

This award will recognise the most inspiring, dynamic, and driven leader trading for 18 months or less. Entrants must show how they have overcome challenges to successfully grow their business and how they have achieved this through passion, commitment, innovation, market knowledge, innovation and inspiring and motivating their team.

Cigna People and Culture of the Year

This award will go to the organisation that can best demonstrate how the business has created a positive working environment and invested in developing its people and compliance with ESG strategies. Entrants for this award must be able to show how the company focuses on motivating its team, engaging its team in the company's core values and how this has positively impacted the business' commercial performance and competitive advantage.

Sustainable Business of the Year

This award will go to the organization that can best demonstrate the harmony between profitability, social commitment and environmental concern. The winner will be the business that gives evidence on how it positively impacts local and/or global society and environment while using its own resources economically. Judges will look for evidence of how the sustainable business has reduced any negative environmental impacts and ethically addressed socio-economic implications across the value chain. Additionally, judges will consider how the business has improved one or more of the following areas: customer perception, staff engagement and treatment, commercial performance, and environmental stewardship.

Companies that do not have a proper sustainability strategy in place will not be eligible for this award.

Technology Startup of the Year

This award will recognize new technology businesses, poised to positively impact the region’s role in the future of the global economy. Entrants must demonstrate how they have been successful in addressing a challenge, generating traction in the market, and the impact created on a local, regional, and global scale. To be eligible, startups must have been in operation for less than three years and be pre-series A in terms of fundraising.