- More than 100 Irish entrepreneurs travel to South Africa for the 2024 EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ CEO Retreat
- Highlights of the week include a welcome from The Mayor of Cape Town, Geordin Hill-Lewis, meetings with Jannie Durand, CEO of Remgro, Willem Roos, CEO of OUTsurance, Sandra Kramer, EU Ambassador to South Africa, Adrian Gore, CEO of Discovery, and Zelda La Grange, former private secretary to Nelson Mandela
Dublin, 19 May 2023: A delegation of more than 100 of Ireland’s top entrepreneurs travel to South Africa, today for the annual EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ CEO Retreat. Running from Sunday 19th to Sunday 26th May, the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ CEO retreat is dedicated to fostering entrepreneurship. The aim of the retreat is to support, inspire, and challenge the entrepreneurs to take their businesses to the next level.
The travelling delegation includes this year’s 24 EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ finalists as well as programme alumni representing a broad spectrum of industries and representatives from Enterprise Ireland and Invest Northern Ireland. The Irish entrepreneurs will spend the week in South Africa where they will participate in a comprehensive programme of networking, executive coaching, and education. The itinerary includes meetings with some of South Africa’s most successful entrepreneurs and business leaders as well as inspirational talks by global thought leaders on a variety of topics.
This year’s retreat will also feature visits to University of Cape Town Graduate Business School, township development hub, Philippi Village, start-up incubator, Innovation City, a host of successful companies based in the region.
Roger Wallace, Partner Lead for EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ said:
“The annual CEO retreat is one of the highlights of the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year programme. This year’s retreat takes place in South Africa and 100 of Ireland’s leading entrepreneurs are attending, joined by Invest NI and Enterprise Ireland.
"South Africa is the gateway to Africa for investment and global trade. It’s a significant player in the global mining, manufacturing, and agricultural industries, with a flourishing technology sector. It’s also become a thriving hub of entrepreneurial talent with investment in many innovative start-ups based there increasing in recent years. Our group of Irish entrepreneurs will have the chance to experience a melting pot of cultures in South Africa’s capital city, Cape Town, and meet with local entrepreneurs and learn more about the incredible opportunities that exist to trade and thrive in this region.
“Our annual CEO Retreat is designed to help entrepreneurs to think differently, to embrace new ideas and to push themselves even further as they see past conventional boundaries and limits. We hope the retreat will inspire and energise our entrepreneurs and maybe even be the spark that ignites some great new and exciting business possibilities for this talented group of trailblazers.”
Since its inception, the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ Ireland™ community has grown to a tight-knit network of more than 600 alumni who harness each other’s wealth of experience, with three quarters (75%) conducting business with one another. Together, the EOY alumni community generates revenues of €23bn, and employs more than 250,000 people across the island of Ireland.
The 2024 EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ finalists are:
