Award for Enterprise and Foreign Direct Investment

This year's winners of the Grant Thornton Award for Enterprise and Foreign Direct Investment are to be announced on Wednesday to coincide with the international launch of an informative Web-based resource for family businesses.

President Guido de Marco will present the awards at a ceremony to be held at Le Meridien Phoenicia. The event, which is now in its second edition, is organised by Grant Thornton, the international firm of accountants and business advisers.

The award is intended to honour individuals, firms or organisations that distinguish themselves as entrepreneurs or as promoters of economic development. The awardees are chosen following a broad and intensive confidential consultation with individuals involved in all sectors of the economy.

Last year Kathryn Proffitt, the US Ambassador at the time, was awarded for her outstanding contribution to promoting economic ties between Malta and the United States. An award was also presented to Malta Moulds Ltd, a foreign-owned mechanical engineering company, in recognition of its confidence in Malta as a foreign investment location and in the Maltese workforce for their skills, ability and commitment.

Grant Thornton is recognised internationally for its focus on helping fast growing entrepreneurial businesses. Martin Bonello-Cole, managing partner at Grant Thornton in Malta, said the choice of recipients for the Award for Enterprise is intended to reflect Grant Thornton's commitment to help business owners reach their business as well as personal goals. He underlined the firm's belief that owner managed enterprise is an essential element for balanced and stable economic development.

The theme of this year's event will be family businesses, which according to the Institute of Management Development, account for 70-80 per cent of businesses worldwide and generate more than half the world's GDP.

In response to the particular needs of family businesses, which must constantly strive to balance family needs and business priorities, Grant Thornton has developed a new informative Website, http:// www.familybizz.net.

The site, which will go online on Wednesday, will provide invaluable insights in the issues faced by family businesses, and practical guidelines on how specific problems, such as remuneration planning, succession planning and conflict resolution, can be tackled with success. A brief introduction to the Website will be presented to those attending the ceremony.