> ELEKTA: MOST INNOVATIVE LIFE SCIENCES LEADERSHIP EUROPE 2019
Swedish company Elekta has pioneered the field of precision radiation medicine — and pledges to be around until cancer isn’t. The company was founded nearly five decades ago, and the research that led to its launch had been brewing since the 1940s. Elekta’s legacy stems from its founder, Lars Leksell, the professor who invented the Leksell Gamma Knife® radiosurgery system — but the company’s history is just part of the picture. Elekta thrives with a tradition of customer-focused, patient-orientated innovation, providing specialised and non-
invasive solutions for treating cancer care and brain disorders. Instead of blasting a tumour and surrounding tissue, Elekta gives clinicians the ability to target just the tumour with precision-guided beams from a radiation therapy device. Artificial Intelligence plays a crucial role in making this possible. Elekta develops technology that can learn and adapt through experience, as doctors do. The company also offers software systems for clinics that boost cost-efficiency and enhance the quality of care. Thanks to strategic acquisitions and a leading portfolio of innovative solutions,
Elekta’s market share continues to increase. The company is headquartered in Sweden, operates 40 facilities around the world, and has a presence in 120 countries. It employs nearly 4,000 people, united in the ambition to provide patients with the most effective personalised treatment available. The CFI.co judging panel commends the company’s tireless pursuit of its mission — to improve, prolong, and save the lives of patients — and declares Elekta the winner of the 2019 award for Most Innovative Life Sciences Leadership (Europe).
> EXIM CREDIT: MOST INNOVATIVE TRADE FINANCE GCC 2020
EXIM CREDIT
C
Leading Trade Finance Import & Export
Operating a business on a global scale often requires trade financing to facilitate the free flow of goods, services, and payments. Exim Credit is a private, Dubai-based investment institution with decades of experience in international trade. It tailors robust risk solutions to enhance the import and export activity of SMEs throughout the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region. Exim Credit conducts comprehensive risk assessments for importers and exporters to ascertain the financial health of each corporate applicant. It does the legwork, comparing
charges and monitoring cash-flow management, to ensure due diligence and fiscally responsible lending. Exim Credit provides approved clients with the trade finance documents needed to drive their business. It offers bank guarantees, letters of credit, tender board guarantees, bank comfort letters, and standby letters of credit. It boasts a strong finance team that procures commodities for clients and negotiates in advance to mitigate challenges with lenders. Exim Credit rolls with the region’s development changes and maintains full
compliance across varying and evolving regulatory landscapes. Trade finance is the company’s bread and butter, but it also offers asset-backed capital raising as well as insurance services. Exim Credit facilitated commodity transactions worth more than $35bn through financial partners in 2019 and is working to obtain a proprietary banking licence to directly serve importers and exporters. The CFI.co judging panel announces Exim Credit as winner of the 2020 award for Most Innovative Trade Finance (GCC).
Over the past four decades, Produbanco has been accompanying its customers through life, from momentous milestones to everyday errands. Produbanco is a member of the Promerica Financial Corporation and has a presence in nine Latin American countries. Its home base is Ecuador, where it boasts a network of around 500 service points and 4,000 agents. The bank helps Ecuadorian citizens and companies by developing empowering financial products and providing a governance structure that adheres to the highest ethical standards. Produbanco is a responsible corporate leader and proactively pursues the UN Global Compact Principles and
Sustainable Development Goals agendas. The bank has introduced green savings accounts and credit lines which allow customers to seek credit for eco-friendly initiatives or channel their savings to support projects with real environmental impact. Since 2016, Produbanco has disbursed $181.2m worth of credit to projects that target sustainable productivity, particularly in the agriculture, livestock, forestry and manufacturing sectors. In 2019, Produbanco increased the number of green loans on book by over half, benefitting 245 sustainability projects. The success was fuelled in part by the popularity of those green savings
accounts, which have attracted around $3.2m in capital since their launch and contributed more than two percent of Produbanco’s total financing for environmentally friendly projects. For the fourth consecutive year, Produbanco has achieved carbon-neutral certification by implementing energy efficiency protocols across its operations and offsetting emissions through environmental sponsorships. Produbanco first registered on the CFI.co judging panel’s radar in 2017, and it has claimed bragging rights in the awards programme ever since. The judges congratulate Produbanco, the 2020 winner of the Best Bank Governance (Ecuador) award.
> PRODUBANCO (BANCO DE LA PRODUCCION SA): BEST BANK GOVERNANCE ECUADOR 2020
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