The Minister of Industry, Trade, and Investment, Richard Adeniyi Adebayo, will serve as the Special Guest of Honor at this year’s EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards 2023 (EOY) West Africa, which has six outstanding entrepreneurs poised to compete for the top spot.
In this year’s competition, four business owners are vying for the title of Master Entrepreneur, with one of them expected to take home the top prize.
The following finalists have been shortlisted for this category: Among them are Walter Akpani, managing director of Providus Bank, Seleem Adegunwa, managing director of Rite Foods Nigeria Limited, and Uju Catherine Ifejika, chairman and founder of Britannia-U Limited.
Affiong Williams, founder and CEO of Nature’s Bounty Health Products T/A ReelFruit, and Ugodre Obi-Chukwu, founder and chief analyst of Nairametrics Financial Advocate Limited, are represented in the category of emerging entrepreneurs.
On Thursday, March 16, 2023, at the Gala/Award Dinner Ceremony, one of them will be named the overall winner.
In a related development, Rose Ada Okwechime, a pioneer of the primary mortgage bank in Nigeria, will receive the Life-Time Achievement Award.
Prior to her retirement, Rose served as the organization’s first managing director and CEO of Abbey Mortgage Bank Plc, Nigeria’s top non-aligned primary mortgage bank. She will receive recognition for her work as a leading mortgage banker in Nigeria’s financial system.
The EOY award was established in West Africa in 2011 to honor and celebrate exceptional individuals and women who have used creativity, grit, and tenacity to establish and maintain successful expanding businesses. Throughout the past 30 years, the program has gained reputation on a global scale.
When giving a summary of the program, Ashish Bakhshi, Senior Partner and regional leader for the Entrepreneur of the Year Award in West Africa, says: “The EY Entrepreneur Of The Year award brings together some of the finest and most accomplished entrepreneurs, some of whom have grown to become global market leaders in their fields of play. The six shortlisted finalists will undergo the final stage of judging by an independent 5-member panel of entrepreneurs, some of whom were past winners of the award. They will assess the finalists through criteria such as their entrepreneurial spirit and leadership, financials, innovation, as well as community impact, among others. The overall winners in both categories will be announced at the Gala/Award dinner ceremony on Thursday, March 16”.
In the United States, EY launched the Entrepreneur Of The Year awards program in 1986 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. By 1987, it had expanded to 11 cities, and by 1993, it had begun to take place internationally.
EY expanded internationally in 2000 and established the EY World Entrepreneur of the Year Award (WEOY). The annual WEOY country winners competition is held in Monaco.
