KUALA LUMPUR: The inaugural Star Outstanding Business Awards (SOBA) 2010 came to its climax last night with the presentation of the awards by Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Mohamad Hanadzlah.

Held at The Royale Chulan hotel in Kuala Lumpur, the minister congratulated the winners and expressed his hope that the awards would spur them to greater heights.

He said the development of the SME industry was a remarkable story in the country’s economic history.

“The quest for success is never easy. Real success requires commitment, perseverance and much patience. Every successful owner of an SME is a living testament to this fact,” he said in his speech.

He said this strong drive to succeed could only come from within, from deep within the guts of all those who took the brave challenge to be an SME business owner.

Star Publications (M) Bhd group managing director and CEO Datin Linda Ngiam congratulated the participants for going through the tough submission process, which could also be considered as an avenue for them to audit their companies in many areas that they may take for granted.

The categories of awards are designed to highlight the areas that companies must excel to stand out in the competitive world of business, both at home and abroad.

For the 10 categories, the judges awarded six Platinum awards, nine Gold awards and eight Silver awards.

Maxis Bhd senior vice-president and head of business services, Fitri Abdullah, said: “Maxis is pleased to support SOBA which highlights business standards, business creativity, business with a humanist attitude and business which thrives on principles of community and wider exploration.

“Our favourite privilege as presenter has been our mentoring of smaller businesses all over the country about ways in which business can create more value, more easily, leveraging on new media tools and solutions.”

He added: “Being a presenter of SOBA gives us the opportunity to share with emerging business talents our best practices, and reinforces the common ties between all Malaysian businesses while we embark on new paths in a global culture.”

SOBA is organised by The Star with Maxis as presenter, Standard Chartered Saadiq as gold sponsor, BMW as official car, The Royale Chulan Kuala Lumpur as official hotel, Shang Hai as official business magazine and RedFM, 988 and SuriaFM as official radio stations.

The awards are supported by Bursa Malaysia and audited by BDO.