KUALA LUMPUR — Sin Chew Business Excellence Awards organising chairman Ms Lenny Cheah said, the Award trophy uses the Chinese word for "enterprise" as a logo to signify the "human-first" spirit.

The trophy design was officially unveiled by Lenny and the two young designers April Ng and and Teo Wee Ping.

Lenny pointed out that the trophy looks like a tall house supported by four pillars representing innovation, transformation, sustainability and leadership, with the Chinese character for "enterprise" sitting atop signifying the "human-first" spirit which is an indispensable factor for the sustained operation of a company.

She said the Chinese word for "enterprise" (企) can be split into "人" (human) and "止" (stop), meaning business operations will become stagnant once the human factor is obliterated.

Sin Chew Business Excellence Awards provides an ideal platform for local entrepreneurs to come together and learn from one another's successful instances and profit models.

As "human" is a critical factor in the success or failure of a company as well as its vibrancy and prosperity, a company will only flourish if it operates with "human" as its core philosophy.

The "human" here encompasses not only the staff, but also the readers, advertising clients, editors, business partners, shareholders and other interested parties.

The main colour theme of the trophy is gold, which signifies wealth and power. There are four pillars supporting from the base, representing the four major elements in corporate management, namely innovation, transformation, sustainability and leadership. In addition, the base of the trophy signifies the solid resources essential to ensure the steady growth and sustained operations of the company.

Sin Chew Business Excellence Awards is exclusively sponsored by CIMB, with the Federation of Chinese Associations Malaysia (Hua Zong), the Associated Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Malaysia (ACCCIM), Small Medium Industry Association of Malaysia (SMIAM), Malaysian Retailer-Chains Association (MRCA), Persatuan Usahawan Maju Malaysia (PUMM), Branding Association of Malaysia, Malaysian Institute of Corporate Governance (MICG) and Junior Chamber International Malaysia as the supporting partners.

Grant Thornton is the event auditor and the other partners include Fine Paper Takeo, Royale Chulan Hotel, Kronenbourg1664 and Skynet.

Human touch

April Ng, the trophy designer, told Sin Chew Daily she drew the inspiration of a "human" design thanks to the idea of the event organising chairman Ms Lenny Cheah. She said she was only putting Lenny's idea into substance in a bid to create the feel of stability and rising prosperity.

"To give the trophy some prominence of glory, we adopted the glaring gold colour. The base of the trophy is made of crystal which gives the entire object a glittering shine.

"I feel proud to be given the opportunity to design this trophy, and would like to present it to some of the most outstanding entrepreneurs of Malaysia."

Teo Wee Ping, who has also taken part in designing the trophy, said, "The concept of the trophy is of utmost importance, which is the 'human first' corporate philosophy."

"The structure of Chinese characters is very interesting and today a lot of Chinese characters still retain the forms of pictographs, such as the word for "enterprise" (企), which is made up of 人 and 止.

"As a Chinese media organisation, we always place a lot of emphasis on the unique features and significance of Chinese characters, and have thus incorporated the word 企 into the design of this trophy."