BeNeLux business awards announced

The jury of five would be a mix of senior business leaders with experience in Vietnam. They decided to award Best Company of the Year to animal feed manufacturer De Heus.

The Ho Chi Minh City-headquartered firm reached revenues of $190 million last year, growing by 46 per cent in against 2012, with net profit growth of 55 per cent in 2013. Its general director Gabor Fluit was also named Best Manager of the Year.

Meanwhile, Best Start Up Company of the Year was split between Vietnam MM Co and Dobla Asia. The former’s business is an online food ordering portal for takeaway meals. It started in February 2011 with 40 restaurants and now has 700. It also boasts 50,000 online customers making 20,000 orders a month.

Dobla started its business in 2011 producing chocolate decorations. In nearly three years its employee pool has increased from 25 to 205 and now exports products to about 60 countries. Dobla is running an academy where they train their employees on hygiene and production skills before sending them to its factory in Ba Ria-Vung Tau province.

Other awards included Ho Chi Minh City-based Fresh Studio Innovations Asia achieving Best Innovation Company of the Year and Best Sustainable Company of the Year. It provides consulting and R&D for Asia’s agriculture and food sector.

The last award , Long Standing Business Performance, went to Puratos Grand-Place Vietnam in Binh Duong province. Its products are high quality chocolate and bakery ingredients with a current production capacity reaching 3,000 tonnes a year.

The company makes chocolate from Vietnamese cacoa. In October 2013 it won the Cocoa of Excellence award in the Asia-Pacific region at the international Salon du Chocolat in Paris.