Nominations open for the 22nd EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ 2023 awards in Singapore

Nominations for the annual EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ (EOY) awards in Singapore are now open until 21 April 2023. The awards, which was started in 2002 to coincide with the government’s focus on entrepreneurship, celebrates its 22nd anniversary this year.

The theme for the awards this year is “The Art of Entrepreneurship”, in recognition of entrepreneurs who continuously repaint and reframe our economy from innovative new angles through their passionate work and commitment. The public and business community are encouraged to nominate outstanding entrepreneurs for the award at www.ey.com/sg/eoy.

Mr. Liew Nam Soon, EY Asean Regional Managing Partner and Singapore and Brunei Managing Partner, Ernst & Young Solutions LLP, says:

“The theme this year pays homage to the artful balance of passion, determination, character, and skills that are needed to create businesses that address the most complex challenges and build a better working world. Indeed, outstanding entrepreneurs, as they innovate and pursue their entrepreneurial aspirations to build a company that stands strongly against challenges and disruptions, are akin to artists that create masterpieces that leave a valuable and lasting impact.”

The nominees will be assessed by an independent judging panel across the four globally benchmarked criteria of entrepreneurial spirit, growth, purpose and impact (see factsheet A).

Entrepreneurs who excel across the four criteria will be honored as winners of award titles that are designed to reflect their unique qualities or achievements. The individual who ranks the highest across all four criteria will be selected as the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2023 Singapore to represent the country at the EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year (WEOY) award next year.

Come June 2023, last year’s EOY Singapore winner, Mr. Lim Wai Mun, Founder and CEO, Doctor Anywhere, will be Singapore’s representative at the world award to compete with winners from close to 60 other countries.

On representing Singapore at the WEOY, Mr. Lim says:

“Singapore is affectionately known as a ‘little red dot’ on the world map, but beyond that, also a nation that has grown from a fishing village to become a formidable economy. I believe that great ideas and innovation can come from the unlikeliest places and people – quite often, it’s the result of the purpose and want to make an impact on society, backed by the guts and determination to go ahead to do so, competing for the EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year in Monaco is an opportunity to put Singapore on the world map – something that I’m deeply honored to do.”

Mr. Lim further shares what drove him to start a business with a purpose. He says:

“The ideal state of health care is where there will not be barriers to accessing care. It is with this goal that Doctor Anywhere was established to make borderless and inclusive health care simple, accessible and efficient for everyone.”

Partners and supporters for EOY awards

The Singapore Exchange Limited (SGX) continues as a partner of the EOY awards for the fourth year.

Commenting on the awards, Mr. Pol de Win, Senior Managing Director, Head of Global Sales & Origination, SGX Group, says:

“This year marks the fourth year of our partnership with EY and we continue to be amazed by the caliber of entrepreneurs that emerge each year. Their stories of perseverance and ability to forge change in an ever-shifting world continue to inspire us. SGX Group is delighted to be part of the awards again and we look forward to seeing this year’s nominees.”

The supporters of the EOY awards include The Business Times, The Edge Singapore and Portfolio magazine (official media partners); and the supporters are Action Community for Entrepreneurship; Enterprise Singapore; Singapore Business Federation; and SkillsFuture Singapore.

On board the EOY platform, the EY organization will once again confer the EY Family Business Award of Excellence this year. The award recipient will be selected based on the family enterprise’s ability to successfully balance business and family issues, grow the business and show responsibility for others through philanthropic or social engagements (see factsheet B for eligibility and judging criteria).

Knowledge Partners, Business Families Institute @ Singapore Management University (BFI @ SMU) and The Wendel International Centre for Family Enterprise, INSEAD, will select the winner. This is an honorary award presented for the 11th year and the award recipient does not compete for the EY EOY Singapore 2023 title.

For more information on the EOY awards, visit www.ey.com/sg/eoy. 

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Notes to editors

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This news release has been issued by Ernst & Young Solutions LLP, a member of the global EY organization.

About EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ 

EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ is the world’s most prestigious business awards program for unstoppable entrepreneurs. These visionary leaders deliver innovation, growth and prosperity that transform our world. The program engages entrepreneurs with insights and experiences that foster growth. It connects them with their peers to strengthen entrepreneurship around the world. EY Entrepreneur Of The Year is the first and only truly global awards program of its kind. It celebrates entrepreneurs through regional and national awards programs in more than 145 cities in over 60 countries. Winners go on to compete for the EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year™ title. ey.com/eoy.

Fact sheet A: Nomination and judging criteria

Nomination criteria:

To be a nominee, the candidate must be:

• An owner-manager primarily responsible for the recent performance of a privately held Singapore-based company that is at least two years old, or
• A founder of a listed Singapore-based company who is still active in senior management.

Judging criteria:

The following four judging criteria sets the global standard adhered to by each and every country participating in the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year awards.

Entrepreneurial spirit

• Identifies opportunities to innovate and create a better world.
• Takes risks to realize their vision.
• Demonstrates courage, perseverance and resilience to overcome significant obstacles.

Growth

• Increases market share and expands into new markets.
• Drives positive financial performance.
• Invests in attracting, developing and retaining a diverse mix of talent.
• Builds a culture of innovation that pioneers new approaches or technologies.

Purpose

• Commits themselves and their organization to an inspiring purpose and vision.
• Drives strategies for a sustainable future business.
• Creates and protects value in the long term, across a broad group of stakeholders, including consumers, employees, suppliers, government, communities, investors and shareholders.

Impact

• Positively impacts the customers they serve.
• Integrates sustainable Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) practices in their strategy, with robust commitments and execution plans.
• Focuses on diversity and inclusion across multiple dimensions.

Fact sheet B: EY Family Business Award of Excellence

This winner will be selected by independent knowledge partners, Business Families Institute @ Singapore Management University and The INSEAD Wendel International Centre for Family Enterprise based on the judging criteria below.

Eligibility:

• Leadership of the company includes family member(s) from second or subsequent generations, or has multiple branches of a family involved in leadership (i.e., one individual and first generation would not qualify for the award).
  
• The family still has a significant ownership and voting stake and is primarily responsible for setting the strategic direction and values for the firm.
• The legal form of the company or group of companies is not relevant.
• Companies may be private or publicly traded.
• If the shares and voting rights have been transferred to a trust, it will remain to be considered as family enterprise if the family has dominant influence on the trust in a way described above.
• The business or headquarter of the business is located in Singapore.

Judging criteria:

• Companies shows evidence of a successful, sustainable and long term-oriented strategy.
• Company has adopted an effective and transparent corporate governance approach, enabling the execution of the desired strategy and living out of family values.
• Company governance enables unity among the family ownership (i.e., little evidence of significant family disputes impacting the business).
• Demonstrated the ability of the family to preserve company culture, tradition and values and maintained the entrepreneurial spirit and continued innovation over generations.
• Evidence shown of exceptional personnel management.
• Commitment to philanthropic causes or corporate social responsibility.
• Other exceptional achievements such as business awards, public service etc.