(MENAFN - Arab News) Al-Eqtisadiah business daily yesterday honored 29 Saudi companies, which have won the Best Saudi Company Award for 2011. On behalf of Prince Faisal bin Salman, chairman of Saudi Research & Marketing Group, Dr. Abdullah Bahamdan, an SRMG board member, distributed the awards. The daily had announced the winners on June 6, 2012.
At the annual ceremony organized by Al-Eqtisadiah at Riyadh Inter.Continental, the paper also distributed special awards to the Best HR Manager, Best Company for Women to Work, Best HR Team, Best Training & Development and Best Project Manager.
Al-Eqtisadiah awards are given to best companies in nine sectors. In the private commercial sector Extra won the top place. Other top place winners were: Kinan (real estate), Al-Fozan Holding Co. (investment), Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (public sector) and the Centennial Fund (nonprofit sector).
Weqaya company won top place in the insurance and finance sector, KPMG in services sector and EMC Computer System in the IT sector. Nemar Ghouth of Kinan won the Best HR Manager Award; Sipchem the Best HR Team Award; Microsoft Arabia Best Training & Development Award; Bupa the Best Company for Women Award; and Bashir Al-Taruti of Marafiq Best Project Manager Award.
Government agencies honored by the daily included Saudi Industrial Property Authority, Saline Water Conversion Corporation, the Electricity and Cogeneration Regulatory Authority, and the Centennial Fund by presenting them mementos. It will also honor the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities and the General Authority of Civil Aviation.
Addressing the ceremony, Salman Aldossary, editor in chief of Al-Eqtisadiah, highlighted the competition between Saudi companies to improve their working atmosphere after the daily introduced the award seven years ago.
"The working atmosphere of companies has improved considerably," he said. "Not only private companies but also ministries and government agencies compete with one another to win the top position," he added.
"Although we don't claim that this improvement was brought about by the award, we can definitely say that it has contributed a lot to change the concept," Aldossary said.
He said the newspaper appreciates the efforts made by companies and government agencies it has listed to improve their working atmosphere, by presenting its awards. "We are sure that the Kingdom will be proud of your achievements," he told the winners.
Aldossary announced Al-Eqtisadiah's plan to launch a special unit for economic reports and financial analysis, saying it would be first of its kind at the level of Saudi newspapers. "We expect that it would be the best and reliable source of information about business in the Kingdom," he pointed out. The unit will analyze stock market developments and performance of listed companies.
Abdullah Baashen, chairman of the board of directors of TeamOne, said the list of Best Saudi Companies published this year by Al-Eqtisadiah was distinguished by the large participation of Saudi companies.
"Top officials of these companies and institutions wanted to improve the working climate," he said, adding that this trend would attract more Saudis to work with these private companies and help improve their overall performance.
Muhammad Al-Anazi of Al-Fozan Holding Company, said the winning of the top award would encourage his company to work hard to achieve greater successes and maintain its position. "I am not surprised that Al-Fozan won the top award because our company gives top priority for the development of manpower. We know that manpower is the main driving force of growth," he said.
Al-Anazi said he got promotion as main treasurer at the company in less than a year. "Within two years I was able to attend a number of courses to develop my capabilities. I have become a trainers of treasurers." He is now working as in charge of the company's customer service center.
