Ernst & Young (EY), a global tax advisory firm, will be inducting the Founder and President of Coscharis Group of Companies, Cosma Maduka, ‘EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year’ Hall of Fame’. Maduka will join 60 other entrepreneurs, representing 51 countries across the world to be inducted into the ‘Ernst & Young (EY) World Entrepreneur Of The Year’ Hall of Fame and compete for the world title. This year’s winner will be announced virtually due to COVID-19 travel restriction on June 04.
Maduka, winner of 2020 EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Award (EOY) in West Africa, will be recognized alongside other 60 country winners for their exceptional entrepreneurial achievements and vie for the award at the global level.
Speaking on the award, EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Leader for West Africa, Ashish Bakhshi, says the award is not only designed to celebrate and honour the contributions and achievements of successful entrepreneurs but also serves to inspire today’s successful entrepreneurs so they could share their incredible entrepreneurial stories.
Continuing, he adds: “On behalf of EY Body of Partners and entire staff, I want to wish Maduka very best of luck and hope he brings the coveted award to West Africa. We are proud of his achievements in the business world not only in Nigeria but on the African Continent”.
One of the most interesting and unique features about this year’s edition is that the entire process of the event will be conducted virtually. The overall winner will be chosen by an independent judging panel of distinguished former EY Entrepreneur Of The Year winners and other well-known entrepreneurs drawn from the business circle world-wide. The award is given on the basis of six criteria: entrepreneurial spirit, financial performance, strategic direction, innovation, global impact and personal integrity/influence), allowing all country winners an equal opportunity to compete.
CEO and Group Managing Director of Equity Bank, Kenya, James Mwangi, was the first and only African to win the prestigious EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year award. Other past winners were Hamdi Ulukaya, Founder and CEO of Chobani Inc (USA); Olivia Lum, Group CEO and President, Hyflux Limited (Singapore), Guy Laliberté, Founder and CEO, Cirque du Soleil (Canada), Narayana Murthy, Founder and Chairman of Infosys Technologies Limited (India) and Cho Tak Wong, Chairman, Fuyao Glass Industry Group (China), among others.
EY Entrepreneur Of the Year award program started in 1986 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in the US. By 1987, the program was held across 11 US cities and in 1993, it started to expand internationally. The program was introduced in West Africa (Nigeria and Ghana) in 2011.
