The excellence of the OBC franchise model and its business leadership was recognised for the second year running by the South African Portuguese Chamber of Commerce (SAPCC).

The OBC Group was nominated in two categories at the SACC Standard Bank Business Excellence Awards 2016 that took place recently at the World Trade Centre in Sandton, taking honours in the most prestigious category – Large Business.

In the Entrepreneur of the Year category, OBC Group’s managing director, Tony da Fonseca, was one of the top three.

“We are delighted to have won this accolade again this year. I wish to thank the SACC for providing a credible and reputable platform that promotes business excellence in South Africa,” Da Fonseca said.

The Large Business Award celebrates the top performing companies that are owned or managed by Portuguese.  

Rui Marto, a director of SAPCC and one of the five judges, says the panel received high quality entries in all categories and the most competitive was the Large Business category.    

“The judges’ panel was very impressed with quality of entries. OBC Group submitted a high-quality entry and is an example of a great South African-Portuguese success story,” he says.  

Despite a challenging trading environment in the last 12 months, OBC has doubled the size of its corporate footprint within the network and grew sales by close to 30% on average across all stores.