Frequently Asked Questions

The prestigious Asia Pacific Entrepreneurship Awards is a world-class award recognising and honouring business leaders who have shown outstanding performance and tenacity in developing successful businesses within the region.

Organised by Enterprise Asia, the awards aim to band leading entrepreneurs across the region to spur greater innovation, fair practices and growth in entrepreneurship. It hopes to be a platform to encourage continued leadership towards sustainable economic development for the region.

The Asia Pacific Entrepreneurship Awards is a unique program. Award winners of each APEA are invited to every subsequent Awards Ceremony in the other countries, offering an invaluable networking opportunity with the top entrepreneurs of each country. The Awards culminate with the Asia Pacific Entrepreneurship Forum 2012. During this top event, all Award Winners are eligible to join their counterparts in China, where captains of industries across Asia will gather, network and share intelligence & opportunities on markets across the region.

There is a fixed Nomination Fee to cover administrative expenses and audit fee and it is set at SGD 224.70 (incl.G.S.T.) in Singapore. Please note that Nominees are not required to pay any other fee, and if you are approached by any party requesting payment of any other fee, kindly report to ombudsman@enterpriseasia.org.

To be eligible to receive an award, the nominee must be either:

1. The owner-manager who is responsible for the company’s day to day performance,
2. The founder of the business who retains a substantial percentage (20% or more) of the company’s equities, or
3. The CEO of the company (with or without equity interest) for 3 years or more and has increased the company’s financial performance since taking over the rein.

Additionally, there is a minimum revenue requirement: US$1 million (last financial year) for Most Promising Entrepreneurship Category and US$ 10 million (past three financial years) for Outstanding Entrepreneurship Category. This requirement may be waived or relaxed by the Organisers and/or the Independent Country Organisers (ICO) for certain industries or circumstances.

The nominee for the Singapore Region can be of any nationality. However, the business must have substantial operations in Singapore and/or is founded in Singapore.

Anyone who is associated with a successful entrepreneur can nominate the entrepreneur. This includes family members, customers, suppliers, bankers, lawyers, advertising and PR agencies, employees or even the nominee himself/herself.

You have the option of submitting documentations from the leading company or from multiple companies. These should be submitted in one nomination form to avoid duplication.

A nomination can be submitted via the following methods:

1. Mail: Send your nomination forms and supporting documents to the following address:

   Asia Pacific Entrepreneurship Awards 2012 - Singapore
   Enterprise One, 1 Kaki Bukit Road 1, #02-22,
   Singapore 415934

2. Internet: Send your nomination forms and supporting documents online at http://www.apea.sg/nomination
3. Email: Email to secretariat@apea.sg your nomination forms and supporting documents.

The final deadline for applications is September 28, 2012. However, we operate a rolling nomination process so there is no need to wait until September 28, 2012 to submit your application if you are ready now.

The APEA Secretariat will go through the received nominations to ensure that all participants meet the hard criteria, as described in attached brochure in question 4. Their annual reports are then sent to an independent auditor, which verifies the submitted documents.

The judges for the awards are our committee of Advisors. The Committee is made up of prominent leaders in Asia Pacific, industry leaders in the government and in the corporate sector. For a full list and description, please visit www.enterpriseasia.org.

The judges will take both quantitative and qualitative criteria into consideration in deciding on the winners. Besides evidence of sustained business growth, judges are also required to take into consideration the entrepreneur’s:

• Investment in people
• His belief and action in supporting responsible entrepreneurship.
• Leadership qualities, vision, direction and 'story'.
• Peer and industry recognition are also taken into consideration.

If you have won other Awards in the past, this will be taken into consideration as well. However, winning other Awards are no guarantee that you will meet the stringent criteria of APEA, as the APEA are benchmarked against regional yardsticks.

The nominee is required to fill in a nomination form which requests for the following information.

1. Business Registration Certificate
2. Business/Trade License
3. Photocopy of ID/Passport of Owner/CEO
4. Latest Audited Accounts (unaudited management accounts may be submitted, but subject to audit by appointed auditors)
5. Brochures / Websites Print-out
6. Curriculum Vitate of Owner/CEO
7. Company Profile
8. Additional information such as prior awards or anything you feel the judges should know about.
9. Testimonials / Letters of Recommendation (if any)

You will find that the efforts taken to compile all the required documentations to be worth the time and effort, as these allow you to rediscover certain strengths and weaknesses of your company and yourself that you may have overlooked in the past.

Nominations are sealed upon receipt by the ICO. These are then submitted to the appointed auditors in batches for audit and review purposes. An independent judging panel comprising business leaders, academics and retired senior government and political leaders will review evaluation reports submitted by the auditors and the ICO on shortlisted candidates. Information about nominees is not released to anyone else without prior approval.

However, by submitting your nomination, you agree to allow the auditors and/or the ICO to perform such checks and audits as deemed appropriate, including credit reviews and checks with credit agencies. Site inspections, peer-review and other authentication measures may also be undertaken to ensure recipients of APEA meet the strict criteria set by Enterprise Asia. Additionally, the ICO and Enterprise Asia may use your names and official biodatas as submitted by you in press and publicity activities should you win the Awards.

Auditors, judges and staff members of ICO and Enterprise Asia are required to sign non-disclosure documents prior to their engagement, and are governed by APEA Charter on confidentiality.

The Awards are judged on both quantitative and qualitative criteria, the basis for which are derived from your nomination form and supporting documentations. Chief of this are your audited accounts. If you do not have the latest audited accounts, we accept unaudited management accounts, provided that you also submit audited accounts for two preceding years. If your accounts show declining revenue and/or profit, and this is due to circumstances beyond your control, you may submit additional notes to justify such declines.