Please see below Mrs. Marlene Street Forrest Presentation at the JSE’s 9th Best Practice Awards Banquet, that was held at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel on Wednesday, December 4, 2013 at 7:30 p.m.
It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to this, our ninth Best Practices Awards Ceremony. I am sure you will agree with me that the year has passed so swiftly; too quickly for most of us as we try desperately to excel in a challenging business environment. An environment that demanded our best, pushed us to levels we did not know exist, insisted that we assess and analyse and improve; all within what has seemed to be a small window of time. With so little time to spare it is no wonder that it seems as if it was just yesterday that we met at the last Awards Ceremony.
Over the last few years, we have been operating in an environment which tempts us at times to sacrifice the best standards on the altar of expediency. It is therefore a testament of true grit and integrity when we have companies that can say that “despite all the challenges, we know the medium and long-term benefits of sticking to the game plan of providing the best service to our customers and shareholders and in so doing providing the best challenge to our competitors.” I am positive that during this trying time in business history, most of the companies who had seen the need to strive for excellence by establishing good corporate governance and implementing best practices standards would be experiencing positive returns on their investments and it is only because those standards were in place that they were able to withstand the current economic and operating challenges and are now able to present a credible front to shareholders.
We are indeed privileged to have so many of these companies, to which I speak, represented here tonight. The Best Practices Awards are simply a way of saying that we recognize what your companies are doing and we believe that this is an avenue through which your colleagues, collaborators and even competitors can share in recognizing excellence.
Tonight we honour some of the companies that our committee of judges determined as the best in the categories in 2012. We believe that all our listed companies here tonight should take credit for their efforts at improving their best practices. It often takes the effort of every single individual in an organization to execute so that the result is excellent. Indira Gandhi said “There are two kinds of people, those who do the work and those who take the credit, try to be in the first group as there is less competition …” I am sure that most represented here this evening are in the first group, and each award that you will receive represents the credit for a job well done. But first group or second, we encourage you to share the credit as it’s due across the breadth and width of your organisations. Share it with your back office staff, with your messengers, with your customer service representatives and your janitorial staff. Let everyone involved in providing a service to an internal or external customer know what awards have been garnered and why. Let’s together deepen the pool of understanding of what it means to have good corporate governance and to have best practice standards. Let’s make it important to everyday mundane tasks. Let’s make it a part of our daily mantra.
As we emphasise on the value of sharing and communication, we believe that loyalty from shareholders is important and critical to success. This is especially true in tough economic times. It is with this in mind that we urge you to strengthen the dialogue between yourself and the shareholders through planning and preparation for Annual General Meetings and through Investor Forums. We urge you to:
· Define a role for the Board in communicating with the shareholders;
· To uncover and discuss rather than cover and dismiss subjects of potential stakeholder concern when sending release and press notices and,
· Other than through once or twice a year activities, carve out a space for shareholders’ survey and dialogue. We are certain that you will find that the stake they have in the company is far more than the money they have invested in it.
Companies are therefore required not only to live best practices within the confines of their companies but to share it so internal and external customers can embrace their vision. Then and only then will we truly move our organisations and this country onwards and upwards.
Each year we reflect on the challenges that companies’ face and how they have overcome these challenges while still ensuring that best practice standards are maintained. Each year we also seek to reward those companies that have succeeded yet again in raising the bar. These Best Practices Awards focus our attention on Customers, Shareholders and Business Competitors. As many of you know, the major Best Practices Award categories include: Annual Report, Corporate Disclosure & Investor Relations, Best Performing Company, Member-Dealers Awards, the PSOJ/JSE Corporate Governance Award and the coveted Governor General’s Award for Excellence, which is presented to the overall winner.
I would like to take this opportunity to specially thank the independent members on the Best Practices Committees who have tirelessly and voluntarily given of their time, skill and effort to sit on these committees, enabling this worthwhile cause to flourish and assisting us in maintaining a programme that rewards the best of corporate Jamaica. These are committed individuals, who are determined to see the development of the market through best business practice.
No doubt, during the course of the evening’s proceedings the Chairman of the Best Practices Committee will provide us with qualitative analysis on the companies’ performances and tell us more about future plans for the coming year. He may even regale us with a story or two about the sometimes passionate interactions that have become a firm and treasured part of these awards.
Once again, it is my sincere pleasure to welcome you all to this award ceremony. You honour us and your peers with your presence and support of our efforts and for this we are as thankful as we are encouraged.
