Rewarding Success


The 9th KZN Top Business Awards were held on the 21 July at the Greyville Convention Centre in Durban. The prestigious event was attended by an esteemed list of  guests representing provincial government,  municipalities, organisations and businesses across the province.

The Top Business Awards are powered by the eLan Property Group. CEO Mark Taylor said, "We are delighted to be part of this event as they have rightfully recognised some of the best businesses KZN has to offer. With our vast experience of dealing with business and government in the province, eLan Property Group's intention is to play an ambassadorial role in promoting the province."

The KwaZulu-Natal Top Business Awards honour the achievements of KwaZulu-Natal business people by identifying and celebrating business success in the province in a variety of business categories. Publisher Lalita Dhasiar Ventura said, "We believe that both the business and public sector in KZN play crucial roles in the province's socio-economic growth. These Awards recognise and pay tribute to the world class enterprises we have in the province."

Category Awards

Each of the category awards on offer celebrates and recognises business and organisational success across the economic sectors in both the private and public arenas.

The winners in each general category are:
1. Agriculture: Mondi
2. Mining and Quarrying: Richards Bay Minerals
3. Manufacturing: Southern African Shipyards
4. Utilities: Umgeni Water
5. Construction and Development:  Shree Property Holdings
6. Trade: Hirsch's
7. Transport, Storage and Communication: King Shaka International Airport
8. Financial and Business Services: Shepstone and Wylie
9. Social and Community Services: SmartXchange
10. Tourism: Durban ICC
11. Municipal (Promotion): eThekwini Municipality - Durban Tourism
12. Government (Promoting socio-economic growth): KZN Department of Art and Culture


Partnership Award

The Partnership Award acknowledges that many of today's social, economic and education  challenges are so complex and interconnected that they can only be tackled by different sectors working together. The Regional and Local Economic Development (RLED) Capacity Building and Institutional Development Programme is a joint effort between the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Department of Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs (EDTEA) and the University of KwaZulu-Natal's (UKZN) Graduate School of Business and Leadership. This project came about after the realisation that despite good socio-economic policies and strategies; provincial and local governments are marked by a minimal capacity in driving these policies forward, which compound RLED challenges in the province.



Top Brand
Creating and maintaining a leading brand in today's business world isn't easy. While brands come in and out of fashion, the one that continue to capture our attention and  win over our support do so by holding fast to their quality products or service.

Each year the much coveted Top KZN Brand award is given to the brand  has the most votes on a public online poll.  Voters are required to register by email and each person registered is allowed one vote.

Once more the interest shown in this award is reflected in the large number of votes cast. We are also delighted that companies take advantage of the opportunity by encouraging their staff members, clients and other stakeholder s to get involved. Twitter and Facebook were also abuzz with requests to go on line and vote.

The top ten  brands as voted for by the people of  KZN are:
1 Defy
2 The Unlimited
3 Tyson Properties
4 Gud Filters
5 East Coast Radio
6 Sparkport Pharmacy Group
7 Hirsch's
8 Spar
9 King Shaka International Airport
10 Ushaka Marine World