The awards, which was established by the Centre in 1998 to serve as a benchmark for corporate excellence, has become an annual event and compiles the top 100 highly performing companies from both public and private sectors, for due recognition of successful enterprises.

 Mr Yofi Grant, the Chief Executive Officer GIPC, said the theme was in line with government’s vision to use manufacturing through the “One District, One Factory,” initiative as an economic development and job creation tool.

He said the GIPC intended to use this year’s awards as a launch pad for promoting partnerships between Ghanaian manufacturers and their foreign counterparts and showcase Ghana’s industrialisation potential and its impact on employment and skills development.

The event is aimed at introducing a system of ranking the top 100 companies in Ghana whilst encouraging and nurturing the private sector to develop and grow to compete internationally. The objective is to develop a database of the top 100 viable companies as an annual “who is who” on the Ghanaian corporate business calendar and through creative media vehicles and activities to promote Ghana’s corporate capacity.

Mr Grant said it was also intended to utilise the club to gain government support and intervention to enhance the competitiveness of the Ghanaian corporate sector. It is also to develop an open information culture within the corporate sector, provide incentives for improved corporate performance by recognising the top 100 performing companies and develop uniform criteria for evaluating performance.

Mr Grant encouraged limited liability companies to apply for the event and for companies with government interest, government shares should be less than 50 per cent, unless it was listed on the stock exchange. ‘Companies are also requested to submit soft and hard copies of audited accounts for 2014, 2015 and 2016, a 125- word soft copies of company profile and logo, and soft & hard copies of CEO’s passport size picture,” he said.

He said companies would be ranked by the ranking consultant, Ernest and Young (EY) based on three main criteria; size, growth and profitability. This year’s event include Best Company in Agriculture and Agribusiness, Financial Services, Information and Communication Technology, Services, Infrastructure, Petroleum and Mining, Manufacturing, Tourism, Health and Education.

The discretionary awards would include UNICEF’s Coalition of Children’s Award, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Award, and the GC 100 Company of the Future Award.  Mr Grant lauded the continuous support of GIPC partners for the award and urged all companies to subscribe to it.

Madam Ama Bawah, the Senior Director of Government Relations, Newmont Ghana Limited, commended the GIPC for the continuous efforts to promote business growth in the country.  She said being the first on the Club 100 list has impacted positively on the brand of the company which had increased work ethics.