Thua Thien-Hue (VNA) – Excellent businesswomenin the Asia-Pacific region are going to be honoured with the second APECBusiness Efficiency and Success Target (BEST) Award on September 27.

The award, APEC’ first contest for women entrepreneurs, isheld on the margins of the ongoing 2017 APEC Women and the Economy Forum in Huecity, Vietnam’s central province of Thua Thien-Hue.

Opening the contest on September 27 morning, NataliaStrigunova, Deputy Director of theDepartment of Asia, Africa and Latin America of Russia’s Ministry of EconomicDevelopment, said: “Women entrepreneurship is one of the most efficientengines of economic growth. Given volatility of the global economic andfinancial architecture, APEC’s main goal as well as the goal of every economyis to create the most favourable environment and give our women all necessarytools and skills to start their business.”

She noted only 6 percent of the chief executive officers(CEO) of the world’s largest corporations are women, and the 30 percent ofwomen-owned businesses are mostly small and medium-sized enterprises.

However, there has been some progress, the official said,adding that in the 500 Fortunes Companies 2017, the number of women holding theCEO position was up by 11.

The main idea of the APEC BEST Award, initiated by Russia,is spreading the best practices of women-owned companies among the APECeconomies and encouraging business ladies to apply promising business modelsbased on domestic success stories, Strigunova added.

This year’s contest attracted 12 businesswomen from 12 APECmember economies. They will have 10 minutes to present their firms’ vision,customers, finance and personnel issues and later answer questions raised bythe jury.

Awards will be presented in the categories of APEC BESTAward, Highest Growth Potential, Most Innovative Business Model, InternationalAttractiveness, Best Social Impact, Best “Green” Project, and Special Prize.

Three Vietnamese contestants are To Thi Phuong Thao –General Director of package producer VBOX Luxury Joint Stock Company, HoangMinh Nhat – founder of the Minh Nhat bread chain, and Nguyen Thi My Lien –General Director of the Chau Thong Co. Ltd.

The 2017 APEC BEST Award is co-sponsored by Vietnam, Japan,Chile, Chinese Taipei and China.

Established in1989, APEC comprises 21 economies, including Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile,China, Hong Kong (China), Indonesia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia,Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia,Singapore, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, the US, and Vietnam.

They account for39 percent of the world population, 57 percent of the world GDP and 47 percentof the global trade, according to statistics in 2014.-VNA