Selection Criteria

The assessment of nominations by both our research consultants who will validate and subsequently shortlist nominees and our Award Jurors who will take the final selections based on their extensive deliberations will be guided by the following criteria which will form inputs for our quantitative scoring model.

• Regulatory Compliance
This criterion will assess the nominee’s compliance with fiscal, legal, environmental and social regulations and to a lesser extent, generally accepted social/cultural practices (such as gender balance, ethnic diversity and employment of people with disabilities);

• Price Competitiveness
This criterion will evaluate the price competitiveness of the goods manufactured and/or traded by a nominee, by comparing the price against directly competing goods. To ensure fairness, the price competitiveness of locally manufactured goods will only be measured against locally made alternatives and imported goods will only be compared against imported alternatives. The price competitiveness of manufacturers will be evaluated based on factory gate prices rather than retail sales prices to eliminate any distortions that may otherwise arise out of the pricing of distributors and retail sellers.
• Product and Service Quality
This is a key criterion that will be measured by the quality standards certifications of the nominee by earlier awards won for product quality by research into product durability/shelf life relative to alternatives and by identified customer comments.

• Packaging quality and attractiveness
Nominees will be assessed by the production quality, effectiveness and aesthetic attractiveness of the packaging of the products they deal in.

• Corporate governance
This criterion will assess the quality of management and the degree of business ethics applied in the nominees interface with customers, employees, shareholders investors, other enterprises along the supply/value chain and other stakeholders. Particular attention will be given to managerial practices which minimize costs and pass those savings onto the customer.

• Corporate/institutional image/reputation
This criterion will assess the image of the nominee in the view of first, its various stakeholder segments, and second the general public.

• Corporate Social Responsibility
The commitment of a nominee to good corporate responsibility and citizenship will be evaluated on the levels of responsibility to host communities, special interest groups and the wider society.

The following comprehensive process will be used to assess all nominations and thus determine the award winners.
The section on award winners will be done through a comprehensive process that ensures the integrity of the awards selection process and consequently the credibility of the awards themselves. The selection process will comprise of the following stages;

1. Nominations will be invited from the public nationwide.
2. The nominations will be received and any clarifications and/or adjustments to the format used by, or on behalf of nominees will be sought by the organizers and presented by the nominees or their agents.
3. Imperial Communications specially contracted a dedicated team of research and analysis consultants who assess the nominations in order to trim them down to a manageable number for each sector.
4. An announcement is placed on the awards website as to the candidates eligible to be voted for and their respective categories along with the timelines for opening and closing of voting.
5. The results are compiled and validated by a separate team of auditors, with members drawn from several different auditors to ensure transparency, authenticity and acceptability.
6. Shortlisted will be notified directly. Finalists are announced at the event