This press release was courtesy of Topco Media.

The 14th annual National Business Awards was held last Thursday at Emperor’s Palace in Johannesburg to honour South Africa’s most innovative and fast-growing companies.

Over the past 13 years, the National Business Awards has celebrated South Africa’s most inspiring and dynamic companies and organisations, across various industry sectors.

Employment services and activations company, Isilumko Staffing Solutions, took home the Customer Focus Award as well as the Diversity in the Workplace Award. Security and construction company, Calvin and Family Group, was awarded the Fast Growth Award, and adding to the Fast Growth Award, Calvin Mathibeli, founder of the Calvin and Family Group, was announced as the Top Young Executive of the Year.

National Business Awards winners are acknowledged on the basis of innovative business practices, product development, enterprise, sustainability and the overall success of the business. In addition, they are recognised for their social and environmental contributions through excellence of service, commitment to customers, ethical behaviour and environmental sustainability.

Topco Media CEO, Ralf Fletcher, congratulated the winners and finalists and encouraged the spirit of entrepreneurship.

“To stand out in today’s business environment, you have to be able to do what you do differently from your competitors,” he said. “You must have a ground-breaking, innovative modus operandi”.

He also spoke of the importance of knowing your purpose to sustain success. “It is the motivation behind every single thing you do,” he said. “It’s the reason why you started doing what you do in the first place, and the reason you’ll do it tomorrow, next year and for as long as you are humanly capable”.

McKinsey & Company are at the forefront of their sector as transformation champions, and implement skills development programmes within their organisation. The company walked away with top honours when they were announced as the National Business of Year. Previous winners of this accolade include EOH Holdings, Woolworths, Kelly Group and Kumba Iron Ore.

Keynote speaker and Minister in the Presidency of South Africa, Jeff Radebe, the Honourable Baleka Mbete, Dr Mathews Phosa, Asher Bohbot and Bonang Mohale, among many other leaders, joined in to celebrate the finalists and winners.

Billion Group, Liberty Corporate, National School of Government are some of the big names that partnered with the National Business Awards.

The highlight of the evening saw former president Thabo Mbeki being awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award for his many contributions to bettering our nation during and after his nine years as the second post-apartheid President of South Africa.

The full winners list can be seen below:

Corporate Citizenship Award	Britehouse SSD
Customer Focus Award	Isilumko Staffing Solutions
Sustainability Award	Old Mutual Investment Group
Fast Growth Award	Calvin & Family Group
Innovation Through Technology Award	Absa Life
Investing in People Award	Richfield Graduate Institute of Technology
Diversity in the Workplace Award	Isilumko Staffing Solutions
Infrastructure Development Award Sponsored by Billion	Sentech
Transport & Logistics Award	Unitrans
Top Performing Public Service Award Sponsored by National School of Government	Coega Development Corporation
Top Performing Business Leader of the Year Award	Ran Neu-Ner – The Creative Counsel
Top Performing Entrepreneur of 2016 Award Sponsored by Liberty Corporate	Mothobi Seseli – Argon Asset Management
Top Young Executive of the year Award (<40 Years) Sponsored by TUMI	Calvin Mathibeli – Calvin & Family Group
National Business of the Year Award	McKinsey & Company
Lifetime Achiever Award Sponsored by Public Sector Manager	Former President Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki