Romania's Business Champion will be revealed this evening at the 18th edition of the Business Review Awards Gala

We’re now in the home stretch, the final mile, for the prestigious Business Review Awards Gala, held this year on March 6 at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Bucharest. We’re happy to announce that, once again, Business Review’s signature gala has drawn many excellent nominations for its 18 awards, proving once again how coveted the established “angel wings” trophy is.

The wait is almost over, the popular vote and the jury judging process are over, find out the winners, tonight at the 18th edition of the Business Review Awards!

It is our great pleasure to announce the Jury Members and the President of the Jury Committee at the 18th edition of the Business Review Awards! The independent jury committee, made of distinguished business leaders, entrepreneurs, and journalists, will ensure the integrity and transparency of the judging process:

Radu Savopol, co-founder 5 to go, President of the Jury Committee
Teodora Tompea, Journalist & News Anchor, Digi24,
Radu Hanga, President of The Bucharest Stock Exchange,
Alexandra Olaru, Legal & External Affairs Director, Vodafone Romania,
Madalina Racovitan, Tax Partner, Head of People Services, KPMG Romania,
Perry Zizzi, Managing Partner, Dentons Romania,
Sorina Mihai, Managing Partner, Porter Novelli Romania,
Daniel Anghel, Tax, Legal & People Services Leader, PwC Romania,
Razvan Parvulescu, Head of Business Development, BTDConstruct & Ambient,
Catalin Alistari, Journalist & General Manager, Business Review.

The shortlisted nominees for each award will undergo a judging process and the winners will be publicly announced and presented with their awards during the Gala ceremony on March 6, 2023, in the presence of Romania’s top business community representatives. The #BRAwards2023 nominees shortlist is in! Check out who made it to the final race to become Romania’s Business Champions:

Sustainability Project of the Year: Environment

Arctic
Carrefour Romania
Forty Management
Kaufland Romania
MOL Romania
Transavia

This award aims to recognise companies’ efforts towards sustainability and sustainable business development from the environmental perspective. It also highlights the innovative elements that companies embed in their products, services or business strategy to positively impact the environment and assure a greener future for the next generations.

Judging Criteria

A clear sustainability strategy already implemented in Romania;
The sustainability strategy should include environmental aspects;
Projects and/or initiatives should cover 2 areas: environment and environmental protection (certifications, green financing, renewable energy projects, environmental projects implemented in different communities at local level, environmental initiatives to reduce pollution)
The existence of an ESG department and / or a non-financial reporting (GRI standards) is an advantage in the judging process;
Environment projects must have a real, measurable and significant impact on society, the business environment, or the company itself.

Sustainability Project of the Year: Social

Auchan Retail Romania
Carrefour Romania
Endava
Mastercard
Metropolitan Life
Vodafone Foundation

This award aims to recognise companies’ efforts towards sustainability and sustainable business development from the social perspective. It also highlights the innovative elements that companies embed in their products, services or business strategy to positively impact society and assure equitable and just conditions for all.

Judging Criteria

A clear sustainability strategy already implemented in Romania;
The sustainability strategy should include social aspects;
Projects and/or initiatives should meet/cover social aspects (organization’s processes, policies, practices and impact with regard to the people, including its workforce, customers, investors, regulators, suppliers, and the communities it operates within)
The existence of an ESG department and / or a non-financial reporting (GRI standards) is an advantage in the judging process;
Social projects must have a real, measurable and significant impact on society, the business environment, or the company itself.

Sustainability Project of the Year: Governance

Auchan Retail Romania
Impact Developer & Contractor
OMV Petrom
Banca Transilvania
One United Properties

This award aims to recognise companies’ efforts towards sustainability and sustainable business development from the governance perspective. It refers to overall corporate board and management structures, company governance policies such as anti-corruption, and whistleblower policies, executive compensation, tax and accounting practices, and cyber security. In addition to these traditional governance factors, governance of ESG is increasingly becoming a major area of focus for both investors and public companies.

Judging Criteria

A clear sustainability strategy already implemented in Romania;
The sustainability strategy should include governance aspects;
Projects and/or initiatives should meet/cover governance aspects mentioned in the description of the category
The existence of an ESG department and / or a non-financial reporting (GRI standards) is an advantage in the judging process;
Governance polices and procedures must have a real, measurable and significant impact on the sector it operates, on the business environment and on the company itself.

Best Romanian Brand of the Year

Arctic
Banca Transilvania
Bitdefender
Dorna
eMAG
TEILOR

This award aims to recognize those Romanian brands that have managed over time to remain in consumers’ preferences, create a unique consumer experience and, through their local and/or regional development, have a significant impact in terms of recognition and sales volume.

Judging Criteria

Degree of internationalization;
Must be a Romanian brand, created in Romania by Romanian founders (regardless of the current form of shareholding);
The impact of the brand in question both in Romania and abroad, as well as the degree of recognition both among final consumers and in the industry to which it belongs;
The impact of the respective brand both in Romania and abroad, in terms of sales volume;
The financial value of the brand;
The degree of loyalty of the final consumer (in Romania or abroad) towards the brand in question;
Longevity on the market;
Orientation towards a sustainable strategy.

Employer of the Year

AROBS Transilvania Software
Auchan Retail Romania
Banca Transilvania
Betfair Romania Development
Microsoft Romania

The Working Romania Champion | Best Employer of the Year award recognizes the outstanding achievement of the companies active on the Romanian market – Romanian or multinationals – when it comes to their HR strategy seen from a different perspective: work-from-home strategy, motivation and compensation plans, retention of their employees, non-financial benefits and wellbeing programs.

Judging Criteria

The main features of the HR strategy and its impact on the company’s workforce;
The differentiator which makes the company stand out in the crowd, from the HR perspective;
The importance of non-financial benefits adapted; recruitment; inducting new employees; compensating and rewarding employees; career development pathways; rewarding employee success; internal communications systems; the work-from-home environment; leadership structures and styles, including promotion opportunities.

Innovator of the Year

Banca Transilvania
Encorsa
Mastercard
Restart Energy
Vodafone Romania

This award recognizes novel, innovative and research-driven strategies, developed in/for Romania. The award is meant to cover the many developments related to the introduction of new products, services or campaigns, as well as the roll-out of R&D oriented investments in order to bring their contribution to a better life.

Judging Criteria

Clear element/elements of innovation of the business/service;
The potential of the smart technology / solution to support the smart development of the society (including cities);
Financial support received for implementing the idea (which demonstrates its innovative potential);
The outcome/impact on the economy/society;
The potential to be scalable / to multiply to other communities / cities.

Executive of the Year

Achilleas Kanaris, CEO, Vodafone Romania
Camelia Ene, CEO & Country Chairman MOL Romania
Elena Gheorghe, Country Manager PayU Romania
Frederic Lamy, CEO Leroy Merlin Romania
Julien Munch, CEO Carrefour Romania
Victor Căpitanu & Andrei Diaconescu, co-CEOs, One United Properties

This award recognizes the entrepreneurial efforts and achievements of a local business person who has managed to develop a successful regional or national business, looking either at the innovative nature of the business started or at the growth parameters and the created value.

Judging Criteria

Development of the business over the past two years;
Unique characteristics of the business;
Innovative approach;
Results achieved against investment and the overall industry;
Look at the ethics and values exemplified in the business;
The added value of his/her business on the market;
The capacity to scale up the business.

Excellence in Business

Alexandrion Group
Farmacia Tei
Hagag Development Europe
PayU Romania
TeraPlast

This award recognizes the outstanding achievement of a local business over a longer period of time, looking at aspects such as innovative character, development achievements, market share and the overall relevance for the local business environment. In today’s hyper-fast world, excellence requires building flexible, nimble organizations that can quickly adapt to rapidly changing markets without losing sight of their vision of winning.

Judging Criteria

A bias for action;
Staying close to the customer;
Autonomy and entrepreneurship;
Clear and compelling organizational values;
Focusing on what they do best;
The strategy for development in the past years;
Unique endeavors to support the local business community;
Sustainable development strategy;
Top market position;
Exceptional business growth compared with peers;
Good retention of its personnel;
An ongoing employment processes;
A low level of the turnover of its workforce.

Entrepreneur of the Year

Dorinel Umbrarescu, Spedition UMB
Grégoire Vigroux, bonapp.eco
Gruia Stoica, Grampet Group
Horatiu Tepes, BILKA Steel
Iulian Dascalu, IULIUS Company
Voicu Oprean, AROBS

This award has been developed to recognize innovation, excellence and results in a corporate setting. Our key goal is to recognize individuals who have demonstrated tangible successes across a number of industries and sectors. Plus, the award seeks to recognize remarkable achievements of business people that go above and beyond their daily roles and responsibilities as head of companies, local or international.

Judging Criteria

The company’s growth in revenue and profit;
Innovation and transformational changes;
Impactful strategies;
Contribution to the nation’s growth;
Activities / successes in the last 12 months when compared to industry peers;
Recognized industry expertise;
Innovation in company turnaround (where applicable);
Examples of company’s innovations that have ‘disrupted’ the industry status quo could be an advantage.

Twenty-five Years of Business in Romania

BAT Romania
Edenred Romania
FAN Courier
MOL Romania
Schneider Electric
TotalSoft

This award recognizes the contribution of a local or multinational company to the development of the Romanian economy, by investing significant capital into the local market and creating additional opportunities for Romania. It also highlights the company’s contribution to the entire structural evolution of the country in the last 25 years.

Judging Criteria

The level of investments made by the company on the local market in the last 25 years of activity in Romania
The cummulated direct contribution of the company to the state budget
The current number of employees in Romania
The number of jobs created along the entire supply chain in Romania
The investments made by the company in sustainability projects (social and environment projects) in the last 25 years
The total number of beneficiaries (direct and indirect) of its sustainability projects
The innovation brought onto the market during its 25 years of presence in Romania through its portfolio of products or services

Public Listed Company of the Year

Bittnet Group
Holde Agri Invest
Medlife SA
One United Properties
ROCA Industry
Romgaz

The award rewards the performance of companies listed on the local capital market, the Bucharest Stock Exchange – Bursa de Valori Bucuresti (BVB). The local capital market has proven itself as a reliable source of financing for private or government-controlled businesses and as a tool for modernizing and improving the Romanian economy. Today, BVB is a a very good indicator of the state of Romania’s economic development and a true modern financial market along with all its listed businesses.

Judging Criteria

Market performance of shares in ROI
Liquidity of shares
The volume of trading shares
Success of the IPO (if listed in 2022) or new capital emissions
ESG scoring

The Business Review Awards for outstanding results are:

Excellence in CSR

This award recognizes a CSR project with a strong emphasis on education, awareness raising, information, guidance, and offering critical advice and support, legal and emotional, to tens of thousands of victims of domestic violence, harassment, or sexual assault, while also contributing to preventing and/or reporting such crimes.

Excellence in Cultural Diplomacy

This award recognizes exceptional contributions to philanthropy and cultural diplomacy, offering a true testament to the power of charity and multiculturalism by bringing together the diplomatic and business communities and making a difference in the world.

Best Employee Engagement

This award recognizes innovation and excellence across the entire spectrum of employee engagement, through wellbeing programs, the use of technology, and people empowerment. It celebrates human excellence and acknowledges success stories relating to all aspects of employee engagement.
Slide The Winner Is | Game World Romania

Best Consumer Lending Solution in Romania

This award recognizes a dynamic and customer-oriented organization and the development of efficient financing tools to help both people and companies in achieving their goals, while building a strong reputation as a real leader in the alternative payments solutions sector, and always being there for customers despite complex contexts.

Outstanding Transformational Leadership

This award recognizes exceptional leadership and the ability to quickly adapt and succeed in difficult and dynamic times which require strong transformational skills that have an impact on people, teams, and the organization as a whole while blending tradition and well-established practices with the new in order to stay one step ahead of every challenge.

Twenty-five Years of Development in Romania

This award recognizes the outstanding and constant development of business in Romania over the past 25 years, combined with a sustainable vision and significant investments, contributing to the Romanian economy as a whole and becoming a major promoter of best practices in both the residential and commercial real estate sectors, and improving the quality of life of the communities built around its projects.

Outstanding Innovation & Leadership in Media

This award recognizes visionary leadership blended with a strong focus on innovation in the media industry while setting new trends in terms of TV formats and establishing a benchmark of professionalism, innovation, and best practices in an extremely competitive field.

Over the previous 17 editions of the event, Business Review set the spotlight on the achievements of the business community, thus awarding and celebrating the companies, business leaders, and entrepreneurs that showed drive, initiative, and who achieved the best results in their class of business.

Facts & Figures from the previous editions

17 Editions of Business Review Awards
Over 140 Honorable Jury Members
Over 560 of Romania’s most inspiring leaders, entrepreneurs, companies, and initiatives in the spotlight
More than 2,200 representatives of Romania’s business elite in attendance
Over 10,000 votes submitted in the Vox Populi/Popular Vote section

Judging Procedure

At its 18th edition, the Business Review Awards will celebrate 2022’s pacesetters in an intense competition evaluated by an independent jury which ensures the integrity and transparency of the judging process, while the popular vote will give a voice to the BR readership and the general public in choosing Romania’s business champions of 2022. The nominees for each award will undergo a judging process and the winners will be publicly announced and presented with their awards during the Gala ceremony.

The Jury

Consists of top senior professionals representing the business community;
Is to apply qualitative & quantitative assessments for each candidate based on the information they are given;
Is assembled to nominate and vote for the best representative for each award.

Judging process

Will consist of three steps that include both online activities and one Online Jury Meeting, as follows:

a nomination stage – done via our nominations form or email
a review stage (shortlisting the top 5-6 nominations in each award category)
the Jury Meeting when the final vote is cast and the winners of the Business Review Awards 2023 are decided

Each member of the jury is responsible for their proposals and should nominate candidates which meet the eligibility requirements.

The nomination stage:

Via the online nominations form or email | The jury receives the nominations of the Newsroom. For each award, every member of the jury can propose up to 3 candidates;
In case a jury member is representing a company that has been nominated for one or more awards he will not take part in the vote for that specific award (awards);
Any company that fits the eligibility requirements can submit an application (self-nomination) on the Business Review Awards event page or at events@business-review.eu until February 25, 2023.

Eligibility requirements:

Have at least one-year performance history through to December 31st, 2022;
Have consistent and positive investment objectives over the past year in accordance with the judging criteria of the specific awards they are applying for.

Shortlisting and final voting stage

All candidates will fill in and submit a standard online form. These standard forms will be the support for the decision taken by the jury during the online vote and the Jury Meeting. If there are more than 5 nominees in one award category, the top 5-6 nominations will be shortlisted by using qualitative assessments.

The Popular Vote

Just like at the 2022 edition of the Business Review Awards, you – the BR readers – have a say! Business Review will shortly release the popular vote form, where you will get to decide also who will become Romania’s new business champions. The popular vote will be available for all awards and will count for 50 percent of the final scoring system, the other 50 percent is represented by the votes of the Jury Members.

Confidentiality

All information regarding the nominees is confidential and shall not be disclosed by the jury to the public or any other third party.

Good luck to all shortlisted nominees and thank you all for being part of the Business Review Awards experience! If you want to join us at the gala on March 6 at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Bucharest, you can register here.