The Women|Future Conference has selected five women-owned businesses to compete in the Women-Owned Business Pitch Competition this year. Registered attendees can watch the competition live on November 9 at 12:00 PM ET.

This “Shark Tank”-style pitch competition provides a platform for a select group of women-owned businesses to compete for a chance to win funding support for their businesses and initiatives, and provides the opportunity for international exposure to hundreds of attendees.

Over 200 applicants applied for entry, but only five finalists were selected by the Women|Future Conference leadership team to present their pitches, face questioning, have their pitch evaluated by a panel of judges, and win funding! The winner of the competition will be announced at the conference November 10 at 2:25 PM.

The 2022 Women-Owned Business Pitch Competition finalists are:

Equability
Equability is an online clothing modification service for individuals with disabilities. It was launched in 2020 after their research had identified lack of adaptive clothing as a barrier to social and professional participation. Equability gives people the ability to conveniently modify clothes to suit their style and lifestyle.

Good Mood Treats
Good Mood Treats specializes in curating baked goods that uplift customers’ mood by infusing them with healthy ingredients. Each treat box includes a positive affirmation in hopes of combating issues with mental health and providing a good mood boost. Their mission is to spread love, positivity, and mental health awareness through their treats.

The Village App
Born out of necessity during the COVID pandemic, The Village App seeks to redefine how people use technology and create a modern-day equivalent of a healthy, happy village community. The app encourages collective coordination, enabling users to connect with others in their community who are offering or seeking neighborly assistance and connection.

Tiny Fish Co.
Tiny Fish Co. aims to inspire the canned fish industry by sharing products that are sustainable, flavorful, and tell the fish’s story from water to tin. Their focus is on the tiny fish from the Pacific Northwest and encouraging consumers to create environmentally conscious eating habits.

XpertPatient LLC
XpertPatient was founded to help people new to a cancer diagnosis feel empowered through personalized education and support. With all education developed from authoritative sources such as the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Guidelines, XpertPatient has been purposely designed by nurses, doctors, and patients to help individuals with cancer achieve the best treatment results possible, clinically and financially.

The Pitch Competition will be hosted by Emmy Award-winning broadcaster Sharon Delaney McCloud, a TEDx Speaker, a Certified Executive CDE, Adjunct Professor, agency owner, and a cancer survivor. With over 30 years of experience on local and national stages and online, Sharon’s goal is to help people make an impact by understanding and embracing the power of storytelling in business to move hearts and minds, and to drive better results in their business.

Sharon is a fierce advocate for women in business and develops programs designed to elevate their career trajectory. Featured in Thrive Global, Enterprising Women, Sheryl Sandburg’s Option B platform, and co-author of Keep Going, Memoirs of Strength, Courage & Perseverance, Sharon shows people how they can inspire, influence, and ignite change. Her diverse client list includes Cisco, Lenovo, Eaton, 7-Eleven, Duke University, UNC Health, Florida State University, SAS, Biogen, Merz, and many others. 

Pitch Competition Format and Judging Criteria

The format of the pitch competition is inspired by ABC's critically acclaimed, entrepreneurial-themed TV show, Shark Tank. Each finalist will present a live, three-minute virtual pitch about their product/service, business model, and target market.

A panel of four judges will evaluate each pitch using a five-point scoring rubric provided by the Women|Future Conference. The judging rubric takes into account criteria such as leadership capabilities, innovativeness, competitive advantage, maturity of the technology or product, business model, prospects, growth, response to the live questions, and preparedness for the competition.

The judges of the 2022 Women|Future Conference Pitch Competition are:

• Kim Roxie, Founder, LAMIK Beauty, and first-place winner in the 2021 Pitch Competition
• Heather Cox, President, Certify My Company
• Sree Kanuri, Senior Product Manager, DELL Technologies
• Shubhi Nigam, Product Lead, Carta Inc.

Pitch coaching and mentorship is being provided to our finalists prior to the pitch competition by Dusty Welsh, Executive Director and Lead Program Instructor at the Sister Sprout studio, which offers business and nonprofit development frameworks to guide women founders through each step of the startup process. With over 15 years of experience, Dusty Welsh provides startup founders from around the world with a 3-step magic formula for wowing judges, impressing audiences, and delivering a killer startup story. 

Funding for the Pitch Competition Winners

At the close of the competition, the winner will receive a prize package of $5,000 cash prize to grow their business, as well as a certification ($4200 value) from Certify My Company.

If you are interested in joining us as a sponsor, judge, or participant in the 2023 Pitch Competition, sign up for event updates to get notified when entries open for next year.

Sponsor the Pitch Competition and Support Women-Owned Businesses

Sponsorships are still being accepted! Sponsorship offers visibility among a demographic of women business owners, executives, and professionals.

We love working with organizations that are aligned with our mission of supporting women in business. The Pitch Competition is funded entirely through the generosity of our sponsors. Available sponsorship packages can be requested at the Sponsorship and Advertising Page.

What Else to Expect at the 2022 Women|Future Conference

Hundreds of ambitious women in business will gather virtually for the fifth annual Women|Future Conference taking place from November 8-10, 2022, with pre-conference sessions on November 7.

Hosted by the Stevie® Awards, the world's premier business awards, the Women|Future Conference is a professional and personal development, learning, networking, and mentorship conference for women around the globe. 

We are pleased to highlight Opening Keynote speaker Rashmi Verma, Global Head of Diversity & Inclusion at HUGO BOSS, one of the leading companies in the premium segment of the global apparel market, employing 13,800 individuals representing 112 nationalities. The Opening Keynote will take place Tuesday, November 8, at 12:00 pm ET, followed by a live Q&A with attendees.

Conference sessions are designed for ambitious, career-driven professionals to learn and share what’s working in their organizations, troubleshoot the challenges they collectively face, and make meaningful connections. View the Full Agenda here.

Sessions fall into seven main tracks:

• Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
• Entrepreneurship
• Future of Work
• Leadership
• Marketing
• Personal Development
• Technology

The 2022 agenda includes over 80 women CEOs, founders, small business owners, entrepreneurs, coaches, and executives who will share their expertise. Conference speakers are from small businesses as well as Fortune 500 organizations including Accenture, Goldman Sachs, Hilton, IBM, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Nestle, T-Mobile, and others.

Registration for the Women|Future Conference is open. Attendees save 10% when groups of three or more individuals register together. Students may register for the Women|Future Conference at a discounted rate of $39 (with proof of a valid current student ID). Sessions are recorded and available for replay through 2022 for your convenience.👍 Get Social With the Women|Future Conference 

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Questions about the Conference?

Conference Registration and Sponsorship Opportunities
Ruslana Milikhiker, Senior Manager, Events
Ruslana@stevieawards.com

Conference Marketing and PR 
Nina Moore, Director of Communications
Nina@stevieawards.com

Heutzutage sind die Stevie® Awards weithin als die wichtigsten Wirtschaftspreise der Welt bekannt, aber der Weg hierhin verlief nicht ohne Risiken, Herausforderungen, klare Ziele, Entschlossenheit und ein engagiertes Team.

Michael Gallagher gründete die Stevie Awards im Jahr 2002, um die Leistungen und positiven Beiträge von Organisationen und Fachkräften auf der ganzen Welt zu würdigen und öffentlich bekannt zu machen. Jahr für Jahr werden Tausende von Nominierungen in einer Vielzahl von Kategorien für acht Stevie Awards-Programme eingereicht. Alle Organisationen - öffentliche und private, gewinnorientierte und gemeinnützige, große und kleine - können Nominierungen einreichen. Einsendungen, die Leistungen im Bereich Pruduktinnovationen, Vordenker-Rolle, kreative Marketingkampagnen, hervorragender Kundenservice, unternehmerische Tätigkeiten und seit kurzem auch die Reaktion auf COVID-19 umfassen, werden von unserer angesehenen Jury geprüft.

Zu den früheren nennenswerten Stevie Award-Gewinnern gehören Aflac, Apple, Chipotle, Bank of America, Ford Motor Company, IBM, ING, PayPal, Procter & Gamble, Roche Group, Samsung, und Verizon, unter vielen anderen. In kürzester Zeit wurde die Stevie-Trophäe mit einer Kristallpyramide als Spitze zu einem der begehrtesten Preise in der Wirtschaftswelt.

In den folgenden Interviewantworten erzählt Michael Gallagher von seinem persönlichen Hintergrund und seinen Erfahrungen, die das Fundament und die Grundwerte der Stevie Awards geprägt haben.

Wie und warum sind Sie auf die Idee gekommen, die Stevie Awards zu gründen?

Nachdem ich seit meinem 16. Lebensjahr für andere Leute gearbeitet hatte, befand ich mich an einem Punkt in meinem Leben, an dem ich etwas anderes tun musste. In den 80er Jahren genoss ich es, sechs Jahre lang für eine Firma namens The New York Festivals, die Preise für Video, Werbung, Radio, Fernsehen und andere Medien vergab, zu arbeiten und dachte: Das hat mir Spaß gemacht, aber die Welt braucht keine weiteren Filmfestivals. Aber warum gibt es keine "Oscars" für die Wirtschaft?

Was war Ihre bisherige Geschäftserfahrung und welchen Hintergrund hatten Sie, bevor Sie die Stevie Awards gegründet haben?

Nachdem ich sechs Jahre lang für The New York Festivals gearbeitet hatte, zog ich nach Washington D.C. und arbeitete sieben Jahre lang in der Messe- und Konferenzbranche und anschließend bis 2001 in der Dot-Com-Welt in verschiedenen Marketing- und Vertriebsfunktionen.

Was waren einige Ihrer Ziele für die Stevie Awards, als Sie die Organisation ins Leben riefen? Haben sie sich seitdem verwirklicht und/oder verändert?

Ich wollte, dass sie als die "Oscars der Wirtschaft" bekannt werden, und bis zu einem gewissen Grad haben wir das auch erreicht, aber natürlich sind wir noch nicht so bekannt wie die Academy Awards.

Was waren die größten Herausforderungen, mit denen Sie konfrontiert wurden, als Sie die Stevie Awards ins Leben riefen?

Für jedes neue Unternehmen ist das erste Jahr ist immer das schwierigste. Jeder Prozess, jedes Verfahren und jedes System muss zum ersten Mal erdacht, entworfen und umgesetzt werden. Das Geld war knapp, also mussten wir für das Meiste um jeden Cent kämpfen. Aber der Vorteil daran, dass man fast alles selbst machen muss, ist, dass man lernt, wie man so ziemlich alles macht.

Wie definieren Sie Erfolg bei den Stevie Awards?

Ein gut besetzter Wettbewerb, der von einer ausreichenden Anzahl erfahrener Fachleute geprüft und bewertet wird, was zu einem vielfältigen Gewinnerpool führt und eine gut besuchte Preisverleihung ohne größere Probleme ermöglicht.

Was ist etwas, das alle Stevie Award-Gewinner gemeinsam haben?

Das Bestreben, dass ihre Leistungen von einem größeren Publikum als nur ihren Kollegen gewürdigt werden.

Was bedeuten die Stevie Awards für Sie?

Ich versuche, nicht zu sehr in der Vergangenheit zu schwelgen. Ich denke, ich bin sehr zukunftsorientiert. Ich betrachte die Stevie Awards als eine Bewegung und nicht als ein Unternehmen oder eine Organisation. Eine Bewegung hin zu einer breiteren öffentlichen Anerkennung der Leistungen von Menschen am Arbeitsplatz, jenseits der schlagzeilenträchtigen Milliardäre, die einen Großteil der Berichterstattung über die Wirtschaft beherrschen. In einigen Ländern und Regionen haben wir dies bereits weitgehend erreicht, in anderen kaum. Wir haben also noch einiges zu tun.

Was hat Sie in den letzten 20 Jahren bei den Stevie Awards am meisten überrascht?

Dass ich es immer noch tue und jeden Tag genieße.

Wie sieht Ihre Rolle heute aus, verglichen mit der Zeit, als Sie die Stevie Awards 2002 ins Leben riefen?

Ich muss nicht mehr alles wie in den ersten Jahren selber machen - juhu! Wir haben jetzt ein gutes Team und ich sorge mich nicht mehr wie früher um jede Kleinigkeit.

Welche Awards-Programme versprechen das größte Wachstum für die Zukunft?

Awards-Programme wachsen in der Regel in den ersten Jahren langsam, dann in den Jahren fünf bis zehn schnell und danach schrittweise jedes Jahr. Alle acht unserer Programme sind mehr oder weniger nach diesem Muster verlaufen. Ich kann nicht sagen, welches unserer bestehenden Programme am stärksten wachsen wird. Vielleicht werden es die sein, die wir noch nicht gestartet haben.

Was hat sich in den letzten 20 Jahren bei den Stevie Awards am meisten verändert?

In den ersten Jahren herrschte große Skepsis, ob ich es schaffen würde, und ob ich es danach auch noch am Laufen halten könnte. Diesen Punkt haben wir jetzt weit hinter uns gelassen. Ich glaube nicht, dass es heute noch viele gibt, die daran zweifeln, dass die Stevie Awards ernst zu nehmen sind und Bestand haben werden.

Was glauben Sie, wie die nächsten 20 Jahre der Stevie Awards aussehen werden?

Größere Akzeptanz und Wachstum in Gebieten, die die Stevie Awards noch nicht wirklich akzeptiert haben, wie Mittel- und Südamerika, Japan und andere Länder. Und alle drei bis fünf Jahre ein neuer Stevie-Award-Wettbewerb in irgendeiner Form.

 

 

Konnten wir Ihr Interesse an den Stevie Awards wecken? Derzeit läuft die erste Anmeldephase der German Stevie Awards, für Unternehmen aus dem deutschsprachigen Raum, also aus Belgien, Deutschland, Liechtenstein, Luxemburg, Österreich und der Schweiz.

Weitere Informationen erhalten Sie unter https://stevieawards.com/GSA.

 

 

 

 

Stevie-winner Annature has exploded onto the world stage with its next-generation eSigning platform. Gone is the single-use digital signing solution – in its place is a platform transforming the future for eSigning, Know Your Customer/Anti Money Laundering, global ID Verification and Payments.

Annature is headed by Amreeta Abbott, an award-winning entrepreneur behind the development of the ground-breaking cloud-based document suite for accountants, NowInfinity. Amreeta completed a successful sale of NowInfinity for $25 million in 2020. 

As the first lines of code were being written in early 2020, she set Annature on a mission to transform the traditional and insecure electronic signature offering she predicted wouldn't last in a digital business world.

Today Annature has achieved ISO 27001 certification as a technology company that operates an integrated digital signature, identity verification and payment platform facilitating global transactions with organizations of all sizes.

Built on blockchain technology, heavily featured and noted for an exceptional low-friction experience. And as a business principle, considerably more value-centric compared to overseas providers.

eSigning accelerated during Covid lockdowns when it became physically impossible to get people into offices to put pen to paper. Business was transformed forever. In just months global organizations accelerated the digitisation of their customer and supply chain interactions and their internal operations by what management consultants McKinsey estimated was three to four years. Annature had already positioned itself to respond to that with agility and strength.

The company formally launched in August 2020. From the start, integrating with any major existing digital document system and incorporating a global ID, payment, billing and invoicing verification powered by global giant Stripe into its workflow solutions.

Annature planned the development timeline accurately knowing that Stripe's powerful ID and Payment API's were easy to embed into the Annature e-signing process as an integral part of the user flow. Enabling Annature to provide the holistic contract execution experience required by many fintech, insurance and other companies.

Annature delivers a cryptographically verifiable database and audit trail for all digital signatures. Establishing a tamper-proof digital certificate for critical compliance information. Laying the basis for any client to embed Stripe into their payment, collection and ID verification solutions.

Milestones

• Process 5,000 Australian Government JobKeeper applications to keep people employed on one night in March - as proof of use and scalability 
• Joined the Xero connected app marketplace
• Annature replaced global competitor, DocuSign for the Real Estate Institute of Victoria 
• Core eSigning Partner with FYIdocs for Xero accounting firms
• Signed fastest-growing legal firm in Asia Pacific, LegalVision, Illumin8; partnership with APS Reckon, and more.

2020 was a massive build year. Client integrations of the customized platform performed seamlessly by an Australian-based team determined to ensure there were no technical surprises.

Qantas Business Rewards Exclusive Partnership

Annature is the only Australian eSigning company chosen to partner with iconic aviation brand, Qantas Airlines and showcased in the global airline's Back to Business campaign for COVID-impacted Australian businesses. Annature's eligible clients now earn Business Points on every document they eSign.

Commitment to eSigning for the Future

The focus will be on secure acceptance and signing documents online, exploring the ability to take payments and incorporate bio-metrics.

With the accelerating shift towards digital onboarding forecasters estimate the global market for Identity Verification will grow by more than 20 per cent in five years, with four billion digital identity verification checks conducted annually. 

Annature provides the highest level of security assurance with its ISO 27001 certification - the world’s highest level of information security management. Our digital signature technology is compliant with all major eSign laws and regulations including the ETA 1999, ESIGN ACT 2000, EUTA, GDPR Compliance and eIDAS.

Annature's Accomplishments Since Submitting their Stevie-Winning Nomination

Since winning their Stevie Award, Amreeta Abbott has not eased up in her tireless pursuit of methods to solve the business frustrations that dominated her early life as an accountant. 

We are excited to announce that Rashmi Verma, Global Head of Diversity & Inclusion at HUGO BOSS, will be the 2022 Opening Keynote Speaker for the Women|Future Conference. The Opening Keynote will take place Tuesday, November 8, day one of #WomenFuture22 at 12:00 pm ET, followed by a live Q&A session with attendees.

The 5th annual Women|Future Conference brings together hundreds of ambitious, forward-thinking women across industries and career stages to connect and discuss key issues that impact their industries, careers, and lives.

HUGO BOSS is one of the leading companies in the premium segment of the global apparel market, employing 13,800 individuals representing 112 nationalities. As the Global Head of Diversity & Inclusion, Rashmi develops creative methods to increase team engagement while establishing an inclusive culture across the company globally.

Rashmi’s life and career have spanned continents. She grew up in India in a conventional family yet managed to excel in the tech industry. She started her career working for General Electric (GE) where she led and drove multiple high-profile strategy projects within various GE businesses. Rashmi paused her career around 2008 to focus on raising her son. The family moved to Germany soon after, and Rashmi navigated the difficult task of raising her child in a strange country with a drastically different culture and language.

Rashmi spent the next 10 years at SAP, a German multinational software company, serving in multiple positions of increasingly higher levels of responsibility. During this time, she expanded her personal and professional networks in Germany and pivoted to her current role at HUGO BOSS.

But being a mother and holding a high-level role at a global fashion giant were not enough; Rashmi also launched her own business recently. YogaDaan is a charitable organization that offers yoga classes to raise money for a school for the underprivileged and differently abled children in India.

In her Women|Future Conference Keynote, "Dream Big & Chase It," Rashmi will share how she navigated these work and life challenges, including managing cultural differences and experiences, and ways to carve out possibilities and dreams along the way. The session aims to inspire attendees to dream big and show them how to chase those dreams wholeheartedly.

Keeping with our tradition of past Stevie® Award winners keynoting the conference, HUGO BOSS is a multiple-time Stevie winner in the Stevie Awards® for Great Employers for COVID Response and HR Achievement in 2019 and 2020. The organization also won three Gold Stevies in the 2021 German Stevie® Awards.

What to Expect at the 2022 Women|Future Conference

Hundreds of ambitious women business leaders, entrepreneurs, and executives from around the world will be tuning in to the fifth annual Women|Future Conference November 8-10, 2022. The Women|Future Conference is a professional and personal development, learning, networking, and mentorship conference hosted by The Stevie® Awards.

The agenda features over 20 panels, workshops, and breakout sessions hosted by 70+ women CEOs, founders, small business owners, entrepreneurs, thought leaders, coaches, and executives from organizations such as Accenture, Goldman Sachs, Hilton, IBM, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Nestle, T-Mobile, and others. 

Below is a partial list of the 2022 Women|Future Conference panels, sessions, and workshops.

• Building Your Community of Mentors​​​​​​​​
• Crafting and Delivering the Perfect Pitch
• Cultivating an Inclusive Workplace: How Diversity Creates Opportunity​​​​​​​​
• FearLESS: Facing Adversity ​​​​​​​​
• Generational Work Styles: Understanding the Old and the New​​​​​​​​
• “Shark Tank” style pitch competition for newly founded woman-owned businesses​​​​​​​​
• Silencing Self Doubt: Overcoming Imposter Syndrome​​​​​​​​
• Strategic Storytelling: Advertising and PR Tactics for Your Business​​​​​​​​
• The Balancing Act: Self-Care and a Sustainable Work Life
• The Next Generation of Tech​​​​​​​​
• The Ever-changing World of Social Media
• The Evolution of Connection: In-person vs Virtual Networking
• The Snowball Effect: How Women-Led Businesses Create an Impact
• Think Like an Investor: How to Get the Funding You Deserve​​​​​​​​
• Turning Passion into Profit
• ...and many more.

To learn more about the conference, keynote, other speakers, and registration, visit www.womenfuturconference.com.

Registration for the Women|Future Conference is OPEN.

•  Get $15 off registration by using promo code RASHMI15 at checkout
• Groups of three (3) or more who register together get 10% savings with our group discount
• Student tickets are $39, with proof of a valid student ID

The Stevie Awards are pleased to announce Stella Wong, Founder and Brand & Marketing Strategist of Brand Soul International, as our representative in Malaysia. Stella will serve as a representative for all eight Stevie Awards programs, but particularly for the 10th annual Asia-Pacific® Stevie Awards, which opens October 3 for nominations. These are the only business awards to recognize innovation throughout the entire Asia-Pacific region. We look forward to recognizing innovative companies in Malaysia this year.

Stella’s company, Brand Soul International, is an independent and innovative brand strategy and design consultancy that specializes in brand development, brand strategy & architecture, digital development, public relations, and content development including storyboarding, animation, and video production.

Before embarking on her journey of entrepreneurship, she was the Corporate Communications Manager of Baker Tilly, the eighth largest accountancy and business advisory network worldwide. Now with over 14 years of practical experience in brand strategy and digital marketing, Stella caters to multiple industries, including financial institutions, corporate organizations, food and beverage, technology, fashion, and logistics.

Stella has been featured in newspapers and magazines, including Marketing in Asia and on the Go-Ecommerce portal by Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC). The Klang Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCCI) also invited Stella as a guest speaker to share best practices in branding & marketing for SMEs. She has also been featured in the book Successful People in Malaysia.

Stevie Awards President Maggie Miller commented, “We are thrilled to have Stella join the Stevie Awards team to help reach outstanding organizations in Malaysia. With her branding and digital background, and winning business awards herself, we know Stella will spread the message on what winning a Stevie Award in 2023 can do for brand recognition, employee happiness, and more. We are very excited to work with her for the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards and all of our other international competitions.”

"The Stevie Awards have been recognized as the world’s premier business awards for many years. By partnering with the Stevie Awards team to represent Malaysia at the Stevie Awards, we firmly believe that we are in a strong position to achieve our aspiration to help innovative companies enter the global arena and elevate their brand recognition,” said Stella Wong.

The Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards focus on recognizing innovation in all its forms, wherever it is achieved in the workplace. The competition is open to all organizations across 29 nations of the Asia-Pacific region: large and small, for-profit and nonprofit, public, and private. 

Some of the Asia-Pacific region’s most innovative organizations have won Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, including ABS-CBN Global, Cisco Systems, Delta Air Lines, Dentsu, DHL Express International (Thailand) Ltd., EventsAIR, Freelancer.com, Google, Great Eagle Holdings, Globe Telecom, HLC Group, Hong Kong Tourism Board, HP Inc., KEB HANA Bank, KEPCO, KT, MSLGROUP China, Ooredoo, PT Petrokimia Gresik, Seoul Metropolitan Government, Singapore Power, SM Supermalls, Sony, Strategic Public Relations Group Limited, Telkom Indonesia, VNPT Vinaphone Corporation, Viettel, Xiaomi, and more.

Nominations will be accepted in the 2023 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards starting October 3, 2022.

Stevie^®-winner Kacific Broadband Satellites Group is bringing reliable, high-speed broadband access to rural and suburban communities across Southeast Asia and the Pacific.

Founded in 2013 by a core team of senior satellite professionals, Kacific is backed by a group of investors with experience in global telecommunications and infrastructure. Kacific uses advanced, multi-beam space and ground communications technologies to provide high-quality service to businesses, governments, and communities.

Their distribution model is based on a new product called Gigstarter, a flexible, prepaid, prepackaged, broadband plan on a monthly model. Internet service providers sell bandwidth to end-users plan-by-plan, site-by-site, tailoring it to each customer and packaging it without heavy infrastructure investments or wholesale contracts. The plan includes unlimited data and full service management, which is appealing to smaller enterprises and entrepreneurs.

A second new product, Community Wi-Fi, supported this new distribution model. A fully managed service, it allows anyone in a village to access high-quality, affordable satellite broadband internet by purchasing prepaid Wi-Fi vouchers for less than $2 USD for 1GB. While the pandemic raged, Kacific could rapidly deploy Community Wifi sites within weeks to communities that most needed them.

Today, Kacific has over 9,000 sites in 25 countries, less than two years after the Kacific 1 satellite was launched. Kacific has reduced the price per GB and cost of each remote satellite terminal by at least 50%, revolutionizing the cost of connectivity in various markets in the Asia-Pacific region, such as Indonesia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, and others.

More recently, Kacific has launched a new product that aims to provide critical connectivity in times of disasters and emergencies—the Kacific CommsBox. Being pre-configured and solar-powered, the CommsBox is designed to provide broadband access instantly and reliably in emergency or disaster zones without effort. It is designed to be an all-in-one emergency communication product that can be instantly activated to establish connection in disaster areas. 

Kacific Broadband Satellites Group won two Gold Stevie Awards for Most Innovative Tech Startup of the Year - Services and Most Valuable Technical Innovation, and a Silver Stevie Award for Innovative Achievement in Sales or Revenue Generation in the 2022 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards. 

Entries open for the 2023 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards on October 3, 2022.

 

Finalists were announced today in the 19th annual Stevie® Awards for Women in Business, the world’s top honors for women entrepreneurs, executives, employees, and the organizations they run. 

The Stevie Awards for Women in Business are produced by the creators of the prestigious American Business Awards® and International Business Awards®, among other business awards programs. The Stevies are widely considered to be the world’s premier honors for achievement in the workplace.

This year’s Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Award placements from among the Finalists will be revealed during an awards banquet at Caesar’s Palace Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada on Friday, November 11. More than 500 women and their guests from around the world are expected to attend the presentations, which will be broadcast via Livestream.

More than 1,500 nominations were submitted this year by organizations and individuals for consideration in more than 100 categories including Executive of the Year, Entrepreneur of the Year, Startup of the Year, Women Helping Women, and Women-Run Workplace of the Year. Nominations were submitted by organizations in 27 nations including Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Egypt, France, Germany, Hungary, Indonesia, Ireland, Kuwait, Mexico, Netherlands, Pakistan, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and the United States.

Among the many extraordinary organizations and women who have been recognized as Finalists, the following stand out as those with four or more Finalist nominations:

Advancing Women in Tech (Seattle, WA USA); Autism Mates (Sydney, Australia); Brandless (Lindon, UT USA); Caroline Kennedy Group (Melbourne, Australia); Consolidated Edison Company of NY, Inc. (New York, NY USA); C-Strategies (Chicago, IL USA); Everise (Plantation, FL USA); Hatch Inc. (Palo Alto, CA USA); Global Press Institute (Washington DC, USA); Harman International (Stamford, CT USA); Inspiring Vacations (Melbourne, Australia); IBM (Armonk, NY USA); Megaphone (Melbourne, Australia); Tavuun Welfare Association (Lahore, Pakistan); Sweet Peanuts (Queensland, Australia); The Tambellini Group, LLC (Irvington, VA USA); and Vanguard (Malvern, PA USA).

Finalists were determined by the average scores of more than 200 professionals around the world, organized in seven juries. Their scores will also determine the Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie placements from among the Finalists, to be announced on November 11.

The Stevie Awards for Women in Business event will be complemented by the fifth edition of the Women|Future Conference, to be held virtually on November 8-10. The conference is for women professionals looking to gain unique perspectives from industry leaders, build resilience, network, and prepare for change. The conference addresses the most pressing business issues of tomorrow, from trends in social media marketing and workplace DEI to the next generation of technology, overcoming adversity, and the future of work. Conference registration is just $99 ($39 for students) and is available at http://www.WomenFutureConference.com.

Winners were announced today in the 2022 People’s Choice Stevie® Awards for Favorite Companies, an annual feature of The International Business Awards®, the world’s only international, all-encompassing business awards program, now in its 19^th year.

The worldwide, public vote was conducted from mid-August through 16 September, with the highest number of votes deciding the People’s Choice winners in a variety of industries. More than 53,000 votes were cast. All Stevie Award winners in the Company/Organization of the Year categories in this year’s International Business Awards (IBA) were eligible to be included in the vote.

Winners of the crystal People’s Choice Stevie Awards will be honored during the IBAs’ awards banquet on Saturday, 15 October at the InterContinental London Park Lane Hotel in London, England. Tickets for the event are now on sale. The winners of peer-adjudicated Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Awards - selected from more than 3,700 nominations received from organizations in more than 67 nations - will also be recognized during the ceremony.

The winners of the 2022 People’s Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite Companies are: 

• Advertising, Marketing & PR: The Audacious Agency, Sunshine Coast, QLD Australia
• Banking: Ziraat Participation Bank, Istanbul, Turkey
• Business or Professional Services: Horatio, New York, NY USA
• Computer Services: AGM Infra Solutions, Frisco, TX USA
• Computer Software: Applause, Framingham, MA USA
• Conglomerates: Prince Holding Group, Cambodia
• Consumer Products: Boobie Brands, Melbourne, VIC Australia
• Consumer Services: Jasmine Norris Photography, Lafayette, IN USA
• Energy & Utilities: Dubai Municipality, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
• Food & Beverage: Empire Eagle Food Co., Ltd., Taichung City, Taiwan
• Health Products & Services: Makers Nutrition, Hauppauge, NY USA
• Hospitality & Leisure: Sea Horse Diamond Beach, Diamond Beach, NSW Australia
• Manufacturing: Kurrajong Kitchen, South Windsor, NSW Australia
• Materials, Construction, Metals, Mining: ACE Consulting Company, LLC, Nicholasville, KY USA
• Non-Profit or Government: Connect2Connect / Megaworld Foundation, Taguig City, Philippines
• Other Industries: Desiderate, Thirroul, NSW Australia
• Real Estate: Filinvest Alabang, Inc., Muntinlupa, Philippines
• Retail: CarrefourSA, Istanbul, Turkey
• Telecommunications: Indosat Ooredoo, Jakarta, Indonesia
• Transportation: EES Shipping, Perth, WA Australia

Entries for The 20^th (2023) International Business Awards will be accepted starting in February. More information is available at www.StevieAwards.com/IBA.

Stevie^®-winner Capital Rx was founded in 2017 as a next-generation pharmacy benefit manager (PBM), overseeing prescription benefit plans on behalf of employers, unions, municipalities, hospital systems, and health plans. In just 3 years, Capital RX has become the fastest growing PBM in America, with award-winning technology, innovation, and a true commitment to service.

In 2021, Capital Rx launched JUDI™, an intuitive, cloud-native, API-based enterprise pharmacy platform (EPP), the first of its kind in the pharmacy industry.  JUDI significantly reduces administrative overhead, advances clinical management, and dramatically improves the customer’s care experience. In addition, the platform connects every aspect of the pharmacy ecosystem in one platform. JUDI™ is a radical departure from status quo PBM technology: on-premise systems running on mainframes, green-screen terminals, and programming languages from the 1990s, each contributing to a broken healthcare system and placing disproportionate responsibility onto patients, insurers and pharmacies.

JUDI powers all aspects of Capital Rx, including its pricing model and its new Advantage card. The Advantage card is the first ethical prescription discount card launched in August and saves consumers up to 90% on their prescription costs. It beats popular discount cards 80% of the time by implementing its Clearinghouse Model drug pricing strategy.

Capital Rx won the Bronze Stevie Award for the 2022 Customer Service Department of the Year. In addition, Will Tafoya, SVP, Customer Care at Capital Rx, won the Bronze Stevie Award for Customer Service Leader of the Year.

Since winning their awards, Capital Rx has continued to enhance their services and customer satisfaction. The Net Promoter Score (NPS) references the customers likelihood to recommend Capital Rx by rating their experience with the Customer Care team. For 2022 year to date, Capital Rx has maintained an average score of approximately 70%, which is well above the industry average.

For 2022 year to date, the Capital Rx Customer Care team has also sustained a score of 4.8 out of 5, which is based on a 5-point scale measuring how satisfied customers are with their service. In addition, Capital Rx has maintained a minimum Call Quality Score of 92%, which references the overall quality, efficiency and effectiveness of the Capital Rx Customer Care team.

Accreditation in any industry is important for accountability and quality assurance. URAC is a non-profit, nationwide accrediting organization dedicated to ensuring the highest standards of care are achieved within the healthcare industry. In 2022, Capital Rx achieved URAC accreditation by meeting elevated standards in the following areas: consistent achievement of Industry best practices; continuous quality improvement; protecting and empowering consumers.

Capital Rx’s goal is to create lasting social change by developing a better healthcare infrastructure that eliminates conflicts of interest, simplifies contracting, and generates immediate savings. Their technology-driven innovations inform better plan management, and their high-touch service approach allows them to provide unparalleled member service with better financial outcomes for their clients.

Capital Rx won the Bronze Stevie Award for Customer Service Department of the Year. Will Tafoya, SVP, Customer Care at Capital Rx, won the Bronze Stevie Award for Customer Service Leader of the Year in the 2022 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service.

Interested in submitting nominations in the 2023 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service?

The Stevie® Awards, organizer of the world’s premier business awards programs, has issued a call for entries for the 2023 (17th annual) Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. Entry kits and complete details about the competition are available at http://www.StevieAwards.com/Sales.

Eligible nominees include departments, teams, and professionals from around the world who work in customer service, contact centers, business development, and sales. New products and services and solution providers used by those professionals are also eligible. The 2023 awards will recognize achievements since July 1, 2020.

The early-bird entry deadline, with reduced entry fees, is October 12, 2022. The final entry deadline is November 9, but late entries will be accepted through January 11, 2023, with payment of a late fee. Finalists will be announced January 24, and the Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Award winners will be revealed during an awards ceremony on March 3 in Las Vegas.

The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service feature more than 150 sales awards, customer service awards, business development awards, new product awards, thought leadership, and solution provider awards categories. Entrants may submit any number of nominations to any number of categories, which include:

•         Sales Individual categories such as Senior Sales Executive of the Year and Sales Representative of the Year
•         Sales Team categories like Global Sales Team of the Year and Online Sales Team of the Year
•         Sales Achievement categories such as Sales Turnaround of the Year and Sales Training or Coaching Program of the Year
•         Sales Distinction categories in 14 industry groupings
•         Customer Service and Contact Center Individual categories such as Front-Line Customer Service Professional of the Year and Customer Service Leader of the Year
•         Customer Service and Contact Center Team categories like Contact Center of the Year and Back Office Customer Service Team of the Year
•         Customer Service and Contact Center Achievement categories such as e-Commerce Customer Service Award and Award for Innovation in Customer Service
•         Customer Service Department categories in 12 industry groupings
•      Customer Service Success categories in five industry groupings
•         New Product and Service categories like Best New Business Intelligence Solution and Best New Marketing Solution
•         Solution Provider categories such as Sales Consulting Practice of the Year and Incentive, Rewards, or Recognition Provider of the Year
•      Business Development categories such as Business Development Professional of the Year and Business Development Achievement of the Year - Hospitality & Leisure
• Thought Leadership categories such as Best Use of Thought Leadership in Sales, Best Use of Thought Leadership in Business Development, and Best Use of Thought Leadership in Customer Service

There are many new categories for 2023 including Achievement in the Use of Data & Analytics in Sales, Achievement in the Digital Transformation of Sales Operations, Achievement in Sales Documentation, Achievement in Value-based Selling Techniques, Achievement in Customer Experience, Achievement in Customer Service Automation, and Achievement in the Use of Data & Analytics in Customer Service. Explore all the categories here.

2023 will see the return of the People’s Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite Customer Service, a popular feature of the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service in which the public may vote for their favorite providers of customer service, from among all finalist nominations in the Customer Service Department of the Year categories.

Winners of the 2022 edition of the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service included ADP Retirement Services, Best Buy Canada, Care.com, Cvent Inc., DHL Express, GoDaddy, HP Inc., IBM, Intuit, Major League Baseball Advanced Media, Michael Kors, Microsoft Corporation, Nasdaq Governance Solutions, Nutrisystem, PushPay, Princess Polly, Public.com, Salary.com, SAP, ServiceNow, Sun Basket, QNB Finansbank, Vizio Inc., VMWare, Vodafone Turkey, Wolters Kluwer's ELM Solutions, and many more.

The 2023 competition will be judged by more than 150 professionals around the world.  Those interested in participating on one of the juries may apply at https://sales.stevieawards.com/sa-judge/register.