More than 170 SMEs lined up for R14m JSE listing prize

A total of 172 SMEs have so far put themselves in line to win a free listing on the JSE's AltX exchange, as well as consulting services and business software to the value of more than R14 million, as the closing date of the Go4Growth competition approaches.

Go4Growth is the first such competition and the R14 million prize is the largest of its kind yet offered in South Africa.

Go4Growth is supported by four partners: business software leader SAP, the JSE, Exchange Sponsors, official sponsors of the AltX, and business consultancy firm SAP BusinessEdge.

Derek Kudsee, director of SAP's SME business in Africa, says the final tally of Go4Growth entrants may well reach 200 by the closing date of 30 September.

"The response to Go4Growth has demonstrated that there is an exceptionally strong core of SMEs that have the ambition and commitment to drive their organisations onto a different plane.

"We've had responses from companies with annual turnover ranging from start-up to R500 million. Entries have come from more than 20 different industry sectors, including IT, engineering, transport, industrial and medical, as well as companies of all sizes, ranging from one employee right through to companies with 500 plus people," says Kudsee.

While the assessment of Go4Growth entrants has begun, Kudsee says the ultimate winner could yet come from a company still to enter. "We have a good Go4Growth infrastructure in place and we can comfortably manage the assessment of such a large group, although we've already exceeded the number of entries originally envisaged for the first running of such a competition," he says.

Entries can be completed online at www.go4growth.co.za. The Go4Growth winner will be announced on 15 November 2007.

Graham Perry, SAP BusinessEdge director, says there are no entry requirements that have to be met in terms of company size. "The Go4Growth initiative is aimed at growth, and the ultimate winner will be the company that shows the most commitment towards that. Another critical emphasis should be around the fact that the company should also be established with a trading history, although this is not a requirement for an AltX listing," he says.

After completing the online entry form, entrants are required to complete the first part of an enterprise situation assessment. Once this has been completed, consultants analyse the data and entrants are requested to go through to the next part of the process in which a business diagnostic survey is submitted and once again analysed.

From this point, a short list of the top 20 entrants will be compiled and these companies will then be invited to attend a one-day workshop. At this workshop, the top five finalists will be selected, with the winner to be announced on 15 November.