SINGAPORE, Dec. 2, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Enterprise Asia is pleased to present an impressive list of sixty-one outstanding award recipients at the Asia Pacific Enterprise Awards (APEA) 2020 Regional Edition. These leading figures have set and proven themselves consistent and exceptional entrepreneurial spirit in going above and beyond expectations during this unprecedented year. 

Established in 2007, APEA recognises outstanding entrepreneurs and organisation representing the best the industry has to offer. An initiative by Enterprise Asia, the region’s leading NGO, APEA is the largest regional recognition program, with over 3,000 nominations received each year, and less than one-tenth of that receiving the awards in all 14 markets. 

This year, Enterprise Asia has rebranded its flagship program – APEA, from Asia Pacific Entrepreneurship Awards to Asia Pacific Enterprise Awards with two additional enterprise awarding categories – Inspirational Brand Award and Fast Enterprise Award in bid to further recognise championing enterprises in strong reputation and thriving growth. This brings APEA to a total of four awarding categories – Master Entrepreneur, Corporate Excellence, Inspirational Brand, and Fast Enterprise.

Due to the impact of the pandemic, APEA 2020 Regional Edition was commenced virtually on 20 November 2020 with the theme of ‘Accelerating Growth Beyond Borders’.  The theme objective is to unlock boundaries and shifting businesses to move beyond adaption and lead with impact. The APEA has gathered distinguished business leaders and organisations across 14 countries and markets into one unparalleled platform in fostering the continuity of sustainable entrepreneur growth in Asia.

Company Introduction

Gigo from Taiwan creates world-class constructional bricks with its unique one-Peg-5-Hole patent. Aiming to bring joy through learning, Gigo pioneered the innovative idea, "Make toys educational, and education fun". This is the key factor that enabled Gigo to successfully expand into Europe, America and Asia and create a new space of joyful learning.

Brand Elements

Gigo keeps all production within Taiwan so that the quality of materials and processes can be guaranteed. Taiwan has a long history of precision manufacturing, especially with regard to plastics and Gigo is able to guarantee that all products are safe and non-toxic to both humans and the environment. For peace of mind, Gigo products are also tested by internationally recognised independent safety assessors such as Intertek.

Make toys educational, and education fun

As children grow, so do their plans and designs. Functional blocks allow development of concepts such as electricity, mechanics, pneumatics and robotics. With these additions, Gigo develops children’s favorite toys into teaching aids and spreads the message that science can be fun.

Popular Science & STEAM Promotion

Gigo started the World GreenMech Contest to inspire young hearts and minds. The contest helps children develop STEAM type skills, and expands on this by tying engineering, design and collaboration together with communication, problem-solving and self-confidence. To help teachers integrate STEAM into their classrooms, Gigo provides a series of training courses and workshops to develop their skills fully. This helps students and parents to be aware of individual strengths and weaknesses. To round up this approach, Gigo created a Creativity Quotient Certification to measure STEAM progress in education.

Gigo’s Brand Story

One day, glancing at his digital watch, Barney Lin, Gigo’s founder was struck by an idea, that grew into a personal inspiration. Such simple digital layouts on watches are only grids, yet they can be used to produce all the numbers from 0 – 9. This realisation led Barney to experiment with a block system that was underpinned by a simple grid. That grid system became the core DNA of Gigo blocks, the One-Peg-5-Hole Gigo cube. With his educational background and his work experience in education, Barney began to see methods of integrating building blocks with science so that learning became fun.

Now, Gigo helps children around the world examine challenging scientific concepts by personal, hands-on experimentation. Gigo has gradually expanded the range of components to support a wider range of educational needs and goals. Today, it is a highly functional teaching aid used by teachers and parents. Before the term STEAM even entered educational curriculums, Gigo was hard at work, engaging with children to make learning through play possible.

Achievements and Impact

The Gigo team at the head office in Taiwan comprises over 130 talented individuals, from various backgrounds. Gigo regularly collaborates with other international professional teams to ensure product development and innovation. Thanks to this teamwork synergy, Gigo blocks can now be found in 37 countries, both in retail and educational settings.

Being a well-established company of more than 40 years, Gigo has accumulated countless innovations. The development of the One-Peg-5-Hole structure has developed over time to more than 100 patents and a range of more than 600 unique pieces. From the humble beginnings of a cube, Gigo sets now encompass gears, pneumatic systems, green power and electronics experiments. Innovation is the cornerstone of Gigo’s continuous progress and development. With continued hard work, Gigo has won wide recognition both domestically and internationally in the field of toy innovation, winning events such as the Parents’ Choice Gold Award, and appearing on The Toy Insider’s STEM Top 10 list.

Looking Into The Future

With a dedicated R&D team, Gigo constantly develops new products and refines old ones to deliver the highest level of educational value to children. With most design and manufacturing being conducted in-house in Taiwan, Gigo maintains a quality and safety level that many competitors cannot. This assurance means Gigo can freely engage with customers around the globe. Gigo encourages and promotes independent thinking in children, developing practical innovation skills in a happy atmosphere. Social development factors are a large part Gigo’s business mission, which is why, with an aging population, Gigo now collaborates with a professional medical team to develop other products for seniors. These sets are designed to delay aging effects and develop intergenerational bonds for seniors and children. Gigo is proud to accompany people through all stages of life.