Malta Business Bureau’s EU Life+ Investing in Water project has been awarded first place for this year’s National Enterprise Support Awards, with the Naxxar local council winning an award in the local councils’ category.
The awards were organised for the fourth consecutive time by the Commerce Department, which forms part of the Ministry for the Economy, Investment and Small Business.
This national competition is the first phase of a European drive to recognise excellence in promoting entrepreneurship.
The project was submitted on the basis of its contribution to help enterprises improve their resource efficiency.
The project, led by the MBB in partnership with the Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry and the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association, ran for 30 months from October 2011 to March 2014.
During this period 135 enterprises collaborated with the project, sharing and being provided with recommendations and training on how to implement water-saving best practice. By the project’s end, enterprises which had adopted water-saving measures had reduced their consumption by an estimated 141 million litres of water every year, which is enough to supply the requirements of two medium sized four-star hotels and three large water-consuming factories.
“While thanking the panel for this prestigious award, we must also credit the enterprises which recognised the need for increased resource efficiency, collaborated with the project, adopted water saving measures and reduced their consumption.
“These enterprises, which recognised that environmental measures make business sense, are pioneers in driving industry to ever higher levels of sustainability,” MBB CEO Joe Tanti said.
The project was managed by Geoffrey Saliba supported by his team.
MBB and the Naxxar council will represent Malta in the European Enterprise Promotion Awards in November in Italy.
The EU Life+ Investing in Water Project received 50 per cent co-financing under the European Community’s Life funding programme, with the Ministry for the Environment as the main co-financier. Easydry Malta, APS Bank, Island Hotels Group, and MSV Life provided further co-financing and sponsorship.