A Tribute To The Potent Drivers Of Economy

Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) form the backbone of our industrial sector. Apart from facilitating the growth of the economy and generating massive job opportunities, the segment also functions as a crucial indicator of the entrepreneurial spirit of the population and ease of doing business. These enterprises, which could be operationalised with minimum investment and working capital, have often outshined their capital-intensive counterparts, deploying ingenuity and smart business planning. Many of them have even successfully tapped huge export markets. In the third edition of Destination Kerala SME Excellence Awards, we honour a select group of such SME entrepreneurs who serve as beacons guiding us in our journey towards a developed economy

The third edition of Destination Kerala SME Excellence Awards, a platform to honour those who made their mark in the SME sector of Kerala through their brilliant entrepreneurial and leadership skills, was held at Rotary Club Hall at Panampilly Nagar in Kochi on January 11.

Leaders from the banking, trade and industrial sectors apart from a host of dignitaries were present on the occasion of celebrating the scintillating success stories of SMEs, the unsung heroes of Kerala’s economic resurgence.

As in the previous editions of Destination Kerala SME Excellence Awards, this year’s 10 awardees have also been selected from 7 diverse industry sectors such as Garments, Furniture, General Engineering, Footwear, Ayurveda, Rubber & PVC, and Food Products. Two categories namely Coir and Jewellery do not have a winner this year. Special awards for two entrepreneurs were also given away on the occasion.

Though Premco Metal Industries, Perumbavoor, and Odyssia, Kozhikode have been selected for the Destination Kerala SME Excellence Awards 2019 under the General Engineering and Footwear categories, respectively, they couldn’t make it to the awards ceremony.

C Balagopal, Founder-President, TiE Kerala; Vivek Krishna Govind, Senior Partner, Varma & Varma Chartered Accountants; Latha Parameswaran, Director, Kottaram Group, and P Damodaran Nair (MD) & S Syamala Nair (Chairperson), Viyyat Power were among the dignitaries who attended the ceremony.

Inaugurating the function, K V Haridas, Deputy Managing Director, Retail Business, State Bank of India said IT integration in the banking sector will ensure smooth last-mile connectivity and greatly benefit MSMEs.