EY has announced the 23rd annual EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Czech Republic competition, which is again looking for the best domestic entrepreneurs. The winner must impress not only with their economic results, but also their social impact. In June 2023, they will then compete against other winners from 60 countries at the World Finals in Monte Carlo. Applications and nominations can be submitted until 21 October 2022.
The EY Entrepreneur Of The Year competition has been helping to select the best entrepreneurs around the world for almost four decades. In the Czech Republic, it started in 2000 and during its existence, nearly a thousand exceptional personalities, from budding entrepreneurs to business matadors, have participated. The judging panel, made up mostly of former winners, follows internationally valid EY rules in their selection, taking into account not only economic indicators, but also the personality of the entrepreneur, their approach to customers, suppliers and innovation, as well as the impact of their business on sustainability and society as a whole.
“We’ve been organising the competition in the Czech Republic for more than two decades, and thanks to this we’ve long witnessed interesting business trends. While in previous years most of the competition participants were from more traditional manufacturing industries, today far more technology companies are applying, whether it’s IT or biotechnology. We see this trend not only in the main competition category, but also in the secondary ones. A good example is our last year's EY Start-up Entrepreneurs Of The Year Martin Dienstbier and Václav Navrátil from DIANA Biotechnologies. It also shows the growing importance of health and prevention, as evidenced by last year's win by Kateřina Šédová, of Loono, in the EY Social Entrepreneur Of The Year category. Younger and younger people are becoming successful entrepreneurs in our country, and I'm personally very happy about that,” says Martina Kneiflová, Country Managing Partner of EY Czech Republic.
“It was a great honour to be part of an exceptional group of national winners. EY Entrepreneur Of The Year is for me a celebration of entrepreneurship and innovation everywhere. It is inspiring to experience first-hand that together we can change the world for the better,” says Tomáš Čupr of the Rohlik Group, holder of the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2021 Czech Republic, who traditionally, as the winner of last year’s competition, will sit at the head of the expert judging panel and help to find his successor.
The judging panel annually selects not only the winners of the main competition, but also the most successful regional entrepreneurs of the Czech Republic. During the gala evening, the winners in the categories of technology, start-up and social entrepreneur are also announced. Czech Television, the main media partner, awards the Czech Television Award for Entrepreneurial Contribution to Culture and the Arts to personalities who, in addition to their business activities, actively promote culture or contribute to the improvement of public space. The best business story is then selected by the readers of MF DNES and iDNES.cz, the main co-organizer of the competition.
The main partner of the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year competition is Česká spořitelna, whose mission is to lead people and society to prosperity. Advice focused on strengthening financial health, as well as successful entrepreneurial stories, can serve as a guide to overcome the current difficulties facing entrepreneurs and businesses.
“Entrepreneurs and companies today face many challenges arising from geopolitical developments, in particular the soaring prices of inputs and their limited availability. The COVID-19 pandemic as well as the war in Ukraine have changed market conditions, and businesses are forced to cope with the situation. At the same time, if they want to be competitive in the future, they need to address how to transform their operations so that they can add even more value to their products. This year's EY Entrepreneur Of The Year competition will be extremely interesting from this perspective – the award will go to those who can tackle these challenges in a way that inspires others,” emphasizes Tomáš Salomon, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Česká spořitelna.
The official automobile of the competition is BMW Czech Republic s.r.o., which knows from its own experience that in order to achieve success, it’s important to create something with an impact, not to be satisfied with ordinary solutions, and at the same time it is necessary to compete with the best. It’s just such a personality that the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year competition is looking for.
“We’ve faced many complications in recent months. But we take every challenge as a gift because without challenges we couldn’t grow. We’re honored to be part of the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards again this year and to support the prestigious competition that recognizes entrepreneurs with vision and the courage to do things differently,” says Maciej Galant, Managing Director of BMW Czech Republic s.r.o.
Anyone can nominate an entrepreneur for the competition using the online form at www.podnikatelroku.cz. There is also an application form on this website for entrepreneurs who wish to participate in this year's event. The deadline for applications and nominations is 21 October 2022.
