Enterprise Estonia (EAS), the Estonian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Estonian Employers Confederation invite all companies to participate in the largest entrepreneurship competition, “Best Estonian companies 2020”. The aim of the competition is to recognise the best Estonian companies and also to highlight the importance of entrepreneurship at times when the economy is facing difficulties. Companies can enter until 10 July and the winners will be announced on 8 October.
The entrepreneurship competition combines two contests:
The Entrepreneurship Award competition led by EAS and the Estonian Employers Confederation will be held for the 20th time this year. The best companies will be declared in five categories: Exporter of the Year, Innovator of the Year, Foreign Investor of the Year, Design Applier of the Year and Family Enterprise of the Year.
According to EAS chairman of the board Peeter Raudsepp, it is especially important to recognise entrepreneurs during economically difficult times. “The companies will be assessed based on the results of 2019 but in light of the current crisis it is also reviewed how the companies have prepared to overcome unexpected challenges. Have the company’s capital, management methods and the culture of the entire company in a wider sense, built over the years, provided an opportunity to efficiently react to the new situation and behave responsibly in the crisis? Many decisions companies made in 2019 are now of crucial importance in tackling the crisis,” Raudsepp said.
“It is vital to send the signal to society that life will go on after the pandemic. We have learned some hard lessons, thus it is even more important to recognise those who not only remain, but also manage to use this situation for relaunching. It is an opportunity to come out with new solutions that we also expect to see at this year’s competition,” said CEO of the Estonian Employers Confederation Arto Aas.
Last year, Estonian Cell AS won the Company of the Year title as well as the Foreign Investor of the Year award. Other winners were: Cleveron AS (Exporter of the Year), OÜ T-Tammer (Family Enterprise of the Year), Evovon OÜ (Design Applier of the Year) and SK ID Solutions AS (Innovator of the Year).
The Estonian Chamber of Commerce and Industry prepares the competitiveness ranking of Estonian companies. Within the competition, a general competitiveness ranking is prepared based on the financial indicators of the companies, and in addition to domain-based rankings the best are also identified based on company size. The competition method is developed by the Estonian Institute of Economic Research.
“Everyone who has been through hard times knows that kind words and appropriate recognition help find motivation and give strength to keep moving forward. That is why recognising companies is especially important this year,” the director general of the Estonian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mait Palts, said when commenting on the largest entrepreneurship competition in Estonia, and added that each year, nearly 2000 companies participate in the competitiveness ranking that often do not stand out in the public, but that nevertheless are worthy of noting because they have a considerable effect on the Estonian economy and society. “Participating in the entrepreneurship competition should be in every economic operator’s annual plan, because it helps to identify the effect and importance of the work done,” Palts said, and invited the economic operators to participate.
In 2019, the best in the competitiveness ranking were: Merko Ehitus AS (most competitive large company), CM Tallinn AS (most competitive medium-sized and small company) and Intelligentne Grupp OÜ (most competitive micro company).
This is the largest competition in Estonia organised across the private and public sectors where more than 2000 companies participate annually and that goes back all the way to 1996 when the president at the time, Lennart Meri, led the first-ever awarding of the “Foreign Investor 1995” title.
All companies are invited to enter via the website www.ettevotluskonkurss.ee
Registration is open until 10 July 2020.