DBA Award
The winner of the Doing Business in Africa award is announced annually. The submission period for the Doing Business in Africa Award 2023 will open from September 2023.
Doing business in Africa award
Each year NABC has the honour to hand out the “Doing Business in Africa” Award to one of its members. During the annual Ambassadors’ Dinner at the end of the year, three pre-selected companies are given the floor to pitch themselves and their successful business activities in Africa. The audience votes on the company that has achieved an honourable success and thus wins the Doing Business in Africa Award. After COVID-19 governed years, we returned to the physical stage on the 24th of November 2022 with three highly inspiring pitches of award-winning business models in Africa competing for the Doing Business in Africa Award 2022. After a round of intense live voting by the attendees of the NABC’s Ambassadors’ Dinner 2022, DBA finalist Tunga received the most votes and was awarded the ‘Doing Business in Africa’ Award of 2022!
Future-proof criteria* for the pre-selection:
- Financial sustainable: The company/organisation has a long-term sustainable business model.
- Innovative: The company offers a service or a product that applies new methods, technologies, ideas, or delivery procedures. The service or the product delivers recognisable results and has a positive impact on the business itself and those it serves.
- Environmentally sustainable: The business model and the processes of delivering a service or a product (supply chain) have been developed to minimise negative impact on the ecological balance.
- Promotes inclusive economic development: The company is working in and with Africa. In addition, the company contributes to local employment opportunities and/or entrepreneurship.
*Applicant company must at least be Financial Sustainable and meet one additional criterion from above outlined criteria.
Photo L-R: Rosmarijn Fens (NABC), Ernesto Spruyt (Tunga), Núria Vlonk-Cunha Soares (NABC)
Selection Process
Submission
The Doing Business in Africa Award process starts by the NABC inviting its member companies to submit their application for an eligibility screening or nominate a company that is based in the Netherlands that does sustainable and impactful work on the continent. The application/nomination must include an explanation on the key three pillars of the criteria: does the company provide innovative solutions to the African challenges? Is the company sustainable in their activities, including if the company is financially viable? And, is the company promoting an inclusive economic-development via their activities i.e. does the company use local suppliers in their value-chain? Does the company generate local employment opportunities? And does the company clearly demonstrate a future-proof business model?
The submission period for the Doing Business in Africa Award of 2023 will open from September 2023.
Screening
Once the submissions are in, the carefully selected Doing Business in Africa Award committee (consisting of a mixture of Senior NABC staff (2) and the Supervisory Board members (2) and a Doing Business in Africa Award recipient (1)) reviews the submissions to ensure that they meet the specific criteria: Innovation, Sustainability, and Inclusiveness. The purpose of the screening is not to make business or technical judgments about the submission, but rather to make sure that each entry is eligible.
First Round of Voting
The first round of voting involves the NABC and the nominated companies following a two week promotion period inviting people to vote for the company they believe deserve the award.
Selection of Finalists
After the two-week voting period, the top three companies with the most votes are selected as the finalists for the Doing Business in Africa Award ceremony that takes place at the Ambassadors Dinner. The finalists are asked to prepare a pitch to present at the annual Ambassadors Dinner.
Final Voting
The final voting takes place live during the annual NABC’s Ambassadors Dinner. Each finalist has the opportunity to pitch why they believe they should win the Doing Business in Africa award. The pitch should be based on the three pillars of the DBA Award criteria: Innovative, sustainable, and inclusivity. Once the finalists have pitched their company, the audience is invited to use any device with access to the internet to vote for the company they believe should win the DBA Award. The company with the most votes is announced as the winner of the DBA Award.
Winners of the DBA award
- 2022: Tunga – Ernesto Spruyt
- 2021: Coach Africa – Danny den Hartog
- 2020: Afriwise – Steven De Backer
- 2019: Closing the Loop – Joost de Kluijver
- 2018: Delft Imaging Systems – Mohammed Harbiye
- 2017: Safi Sana – Aart van den Beukel
- 2016: FORM International – Paul Hol
- 2015: Bejo Zaden – André Dekker
- 2014: Waka Waka – Merijn Havinga
- 2013: Portside – Bas de Vaal
- 2012: Kroftman Structures B.V. – Oscar Tiedink and Patricia Tiedink
- 2011: Remco Afrique – Angelique Mbundu
- 2010: Intercommerce – Jan Slange
- 2009: BIG Machinery – Ron de Bruijn