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Building a betterWorking world

2018 West Africa

TM

Identifying powerful minds.

Call for nomination

The future belongs tothose who build it.

Entrepreneurs are one of the greatest sources of sustainable economic growth, and we celebrate their achievements.

It’s human nature to dream about the future. Most of us think of what ‘can’ be. But entrepreneurs think of what ‘will’ be.

The EY Entrepreneur Of The YearTM Award was instituted to recognize and celebrate unique sets of men and women who use their entrepreneurial energy and passion to change theworld through creating opportunities.Entrepreneurs create some of the most dynamic and successful companies in the world. They see what they want to see and not what they are supposed to see. They are drivers of change and innovation. They create a perpetual pipeline of new products and services for the market. These give consumers greater choice and ultimately, improve the quality of life.I am happy to say that the little seed of celebrating entrepreneurship planted exactly 29 years ago in the USA has grown to become the World’s most prestigious and celebrated business award.One of the most exciting places where entrepreneurial spirit is alive is across Africa. We at EY, will continue to celebrate entrepreneurs in our own little way.

Henry EgbikiRegional Managing Partner, West Africa

Six Years of celebrating the world best entrepreneurs in West Africa

For the past 7 years, EY in West Africa has joined EY Global Entrepreneur Of The YearTM team to recognise and honour Entrepreneurs in West Africa. We have seen the region appreciate more and more the importance of this group of innovators, job creators and industry performers , their impact and the need to celebrate and encourage them.As the Entrepreneurs continue to reshape our world with their innovation, energy and challenging status quo, they create economic and social value anywhere we look and thatis why they are a good fit for the EY brand, because at EY, We are committed to building a better working world.We invite you again to join us this year and be part of this our 6th year edition of the EY Entrepreneur Of The YearTM 2018 West Africa to share your inspiring stories as you build market leading companies and make our communities and world better.

Foreword

Bunmi AkindeEOY Leader, West Africa

Ashish BakhshiDeputy, EOY Leader, West Africa

Programme overviewWe distinguish and credit entrepreneurs according to three categories, namely: Lifetime, Master, and Emerging. As you read through the information on the various categories, you can decide which would be the best category for you to participate in.Lifetime: celebrates senior business leaders who have served as an entrepreneurial icon for several decades, leaving an enduring legacy. The selection is made by an EY in-house panel to celebrate the indelible mark made on the business community in which they operate. This is not contested for and recipient are usually at least in their 70s.Master: honors individuals whose achievements have made them world-class entrepreneurs. You would have to be running an organization with revenues starting from $75m to qualify for this category.Emerging: credits those individuals building young businesses with high potential and minimum revenue of $5m.

The selection committee will assign nominees to the relevant category in an appropriate comparable manner.

The EY Entrepreneur Of The YearTM was launched in West Africa in 2011, since then it has beenadding significant value to those entrepreneurs who participate through wider networking andchallenging their capacity to do more to better their business and community they impact on. TheEntrepreneur Of The YearTM recognizes the contribution of those who motivate others with theirvision, leadership and accomplishment.

Where somesee only risk,

entrepreneurs seeopportunities.

The Global reach of the programEY Entrepreneur Of The Year® –celebrating entrepreneursEY started the Entrepreneur Of The Year AwardsTM

program in 1986 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in theUnited States to celebrate successful entrepreneurs,so they could share their stories, inspire others andreceive the recognition they deserve. By 1987 itwas held across 11 US cities. In 1993 the programstarted to expand internationally.In 2000, EY went global and started WorldEntrepreneur Of The Year. Held annually in Monaco,Entrepreneur Of The Year country winners competefor the World Entrepreneur Of The Year title.Today the program spans more than 145 cities in60 countries, which together represent more than90% of the global economy.Over the past five years, more than 6,500entrepreneurs joined the Entrepreneur Of TheYear alumni. A “who’s who” of both developed andemerging markets, these alumni includes manyhousehold names. Over half of today’s top 100NASDAQ companies have won Entrepreneur OfThe Year, and most received the award before theyachieved top 100 status.

EY presenceNo EY presence, but support available

EY in West Africa

EY West Africa, part of the integrated EY Global practice is made up of all English speaking West Africa countries, with physical offices in Nigeria and Ghana. EY West Africa is made up of 30 Partners and over 600 personnel providing services across several sectors through our 4 main service lines, assurance, advisory,transaction and tax services.

Algeria Libya Egypt

Mauritania Mali

Côte d’Ivoire Gabon

Equatorial Guinea

Congo

Central AfricanRepublic

Cameroon

Nigeria

Niger Chad Sudan Eritrea

Ethiopia

Somalia

KenyaDemocraticRepublic of

CongoRwanda

Burundi Tanzania

Seychelles

Comoros

MalawiZambiaMauritius

Mad

agas

car

Reunion

Zimbabwe

Angola

NamibiaBotswana

South Africa LesothoSwaziland

Guinea

Sao Tome

Djibouti

Morocco

Burkina Faso

Ghan

a

UgandaTogo

Benin

Tunisia

CapeVerde

GambiaSenegal

Liberia

WesternSahara

Sierra Leone

GuineaBissau

Mozambique

SouthSudan

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Benefits of participating in the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™

Beyond a business awardRecognized as one of the most prestigious business awards,the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ award celebrate the worldinnovative business leaders.• Participation in the awards process elevates your company’s brand awareness through

exposure to entrepreneurs, sponsors, judges and guests, many of whommay be seeking customers, alliances, M&A or other growth opportunities.

• The program credentials you to investors, employees, and customers and gives youthe opportunity to celebrate achievements and publicly recognize the contributions of the team who made it possible.

• Entrepreneur Of The YearTM finalists and winners receive great publicity in and beyond their communities, which contributes to valuable network-building. It is not just an award — it is an ongoing community of leadership through alumni events, access to advisors, speaking engagements and media profiles and interviews.

• The programme gives you access to key insights , thought leadership and leadingevents for entrepreneurs

Continuing education opportunitiesThere are several ways to enhance your experience with the program:

One-on-one advisory meetings with EY professionals to help guide your business strategy

Attending the EY Strategic Growth Forum®, the largest and most prestigious gathering of high-growth entrepreneurs in America, now also in eight regions including Africa, Brazil, India and China.

Through mentoring, you have the ability to tap into guidance from those who have been there before you.

The EY Entrepreneurial Winning Women™ (WW) program: designed for women with established businesses who are ready to scale their operations and become global market leaders.

EY NextGen Academy: Designed for young successors (ages 16 to 30) of entrepreneurial families. The EY NextGen Academy program offers children the opportunity to discover their entrepreneurial potential and understand the challenges of a leadership role in a (family) business. Find out more at ey-nextgen.com

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MonteWho will represent West Africa next?

The regional winner of the Master category goes on to compete against other winnersfrom over 65 countries at a global event held annually in Monte Carlo.Each year, Monte Carlo transforms itself into the center for hundreds of entrepreneursfrom across the globe who have earned the mark of distinction as the most eminententrepreneurs in their respective countries. They are inducted into the global WorldEntrepreneur Hall of Fame and go on to compete for the title of EY World EntrepreneurOf The Year®.We are proud to have had two African winners of the global event. In 2006, the awardwas presented to Bill Lynch, a South African, the founder of Imperial Holdings, and in2012, to James Mwangi, co-founder and Managing Director of Equity Bank in Kenya.

2018

Aig Aigboje Imoukhuede

Jubril Adewale Tinubu

Kwabena AdjeiAliko Dangote Austin Avuru

Carlo

Going to Monte Carlo gives you the highly prized andexclusive opportunity to interact and mingle with some ofthe best business minds from across the globe. You willbe able to have intimate conversations with like-mindedpeers, high-profile business leaders and our illustriousentrepreneur alumni, many of whom will have valuableinsights about taking your business to the next level.

Eligibility to participateWe recognize the passion and the drive behind entrepreneurial businesses, whether private, listed,family-owned or private equity-backed, across all commercial and industrial sectors.More than one person can be nominated per company, for example, in the case of joint founders orfamily owned businesses. In such an instance, they would participate as one team.Entrepreneurs eligible for consideration include:

Companyfounders

Leaders of multigeneration familybusinesses

Transformationalpublic and privatecompany CEOswho have anequity stake inthe business

Previousnominees andfinalists

Working with entrepreneurs through their entire life cycleThe Africa Business Centre™There is an increased focus on the African continent asa source of business growth. If you, like so many otherbusiness leaders, are looking to expand across Africa, we can help you identify and capitalize on opportunities.Through the Africa Business Center™, we can coordinate ourresources across Africa in a manner that provides you with asingle point of contact.

Strategic Growth ForumThe Strategic Growth conferences are two-day forums whereCEOs, leading entrepreneurs, investors, industry expertsand government officials collaborate to ensure that bothgrowing and established markets achieve their potential.Attending this forum will provide you with an unparalleledopportunity to meet valuable contacts — potential customersand partners.

Exceptional Enterprises Workshops The Exceptional Enterprise Model represents our collectiveinsight gained through working with dynamic, fast-growthenterprises. These workshops will assist you to benchmarkyour business against others that are on their way tobecoming market leaders of tomorrow. They will help identify solutions to the specific challenges you will need to overcome to take your business to the next level.

Global Centre for Entrepreneurship and InnovationOur Global Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovationprovides inspiration and guidance for entrepreneurs byentrepreneurs. It provides you with access to our services,programs and events from all around the world. You cangrow from our experience and extensive global network.You can access our Global Center for Entrepreneurship andInnovation online, where you will be exposed to valuablethought leadership, insights and solutions.

Global Family Business Centre of Excellence:succeeding for generationsWe know what makes a family business successful. We canhelp you manage the delicate balance between sustaininggrowth and innovation, while managing risk and maintainingpersonal wealth.

Our advice is independent and practical. We have sector andsubject matter experts who understand industry-specificissues and can help you leverage leading practices. Ourglobally integrated team will support you wherever you dobusiness.

Initial Public Offering (IPO) Centre: atransformation, not a transactionMany fast-growing, private businesses see an IPO as anexcellent route to accelerating growth and a step towardachieving market leadership.An IPO marks a turning point in the life of a company. Wedon’t view an IPO as simply a financial transaction, butrather, recognize it as a complex transformation of yourbusiness from private to public. We can help you to start your IPO journey by ensuring that you are well informed and well prepared.

Venture Capital Advisory GroupThe Venture Capital Advisory Group provides venture-backed fast-growth companies with the best possible start on their journey to market leadership. If your company falls into this category, we will use our global resources to offer you creative approaches to the issues that face your company and your investors. By holding regular workshops and coaching sessions, we can enable you to connect with the venture capital community thereby facilitating the sharing of information and learning, from leading practices.

Entrepreneurial Winning Women ProgramWith our Entrepreneurial Winning Women program, wechannel our resources to help female entrepreneurs achievethe full potential they envision for their companies. Unlikemany programs, which focus on helping women to starta business, our program supports females with existingenterprises to scale up and become market leaders.

Junior AcademyAt our Junior Academy, participants find out where theirstrengths lie, explore their interests and give a voice to theirown needs for the future. The program will guide participants along their own personal development journey and help them perfect their own style.

For more information, visit: www.ey.com

Program calendar

The Entrepreneur Of The Year West Africa Program honours entrepreneurs regionally in November. Finalist for the Master and Emerging categories are recognised at a gala that culminates the programme, the winners for the two categories are announced at this event.The Master Category Winner West Africa winner will compete for the World Entrepreneur Of The Year title in Monaco in June.

March April May June July August

WEOY event in Monte Carlo

Call for Nomination & selection of nominees

September October November December January February

Interview of selected nominees

Retreat and Judging

Gala & Award Night

Awards criteriaIt is more than just numbers. Based on a balanced scorecard, awards are given to entrepreneurs who have demonstrated excellence and extraordinary success in such areas as innovation, financial performance, risk and personal commitment to their businesses and communities.Entrepreneur Of The Year candidates include :

• Traditional entrepreneurs who are the founders/leaders of high-growth companies.• They also are transformational CEOs who may not have started their company but have

been essential to its• success.• Nominees can be CEOs of public or privately held companies, multi-generational family

business leaders or• divisional CEOs.• The nominee’s company must be at least three years old.The award winners are selected in a number of industry categories by a panel of independent judges, including

previous winners of the award, leading CEOs and private capital investors and other regional business leaders.

Entrepreneurs may nominate themselves or be nominated by peers and other business leaders.

Entrepreneursreshape our world

with innovation,energy and positivedisruption. How will

you help pave theway to growth?

Nomination tips

A strong and well-written nomination is powerful andcompelling to the judges. Consider these importantpoints when completing a nomination form:

It’s about you!This is an opportunity for youand your company to receivewell-deserved recognition forthe many accomplishments ofthe past few years. The judgeswant to hear about both yourindividual accomplishments as wellas the successes of the company.Bragging is encouraged. This is notthe time to be humble.Understand how you will beevaluated. The judges willconsider entrepreneurial spirit,innovation, personal integrity,financial performance, strategicdirection, market impact and socialresponsibility. It is a balancedscorecard. Keep these traitsin mind and emphasize themthroughout your essays.

Tell a storyPaint a unique picture of yourhistory, entrepreneurial spiritand accomplishments. Use vividlanguage and create an engagingstory. Nominees who haveinteresting, well-told stories havean advantage over nominees whocannot convey the impressivemilestones they have achieved. Ifyou have a PR team, they can bevaluable in this process.

Be conciseStay within the word count limit, asthe regional judging panel includesentrepreneurs and prominentbusiness leaders who have limitedtime to review a large number ofapplicants.

Demonstrate resultsMake sure your achievements aremeasurable. Quantify and expandon your growth in the essay portionwith specific numbers, percentagesand statistics.

Compare yourself to theindustryNot all judges will be expertsin your field, so make surethey know how you stack up tothe competition and how youdifferentiate yourself in the market.Tell your story as if you

Be persuasiveThis is your opportunity toconvince the judges why youshould be a finalist and ultimatelyan award recipient. So put on yourbest marketing hat and rememberto be authentic.

Polish and editImproper grammar and misspelledwords distract from the qualityof the nomination, so make sureto proof your work. Help thejudges understand you and yourcompany better by effectivelyexplaining what your companydoes in a simple manner. Spell outany acronyms and avoid companyjargon.Include backup support.Complement your nominationwith unbiased relevant documentslike newspaper clippings, clienttestimonials and reports reflectingthe health of your company.Be judicious about the amountof supplemental material youinclude, and make sure that itcan be easily copied on 8.5 x 11paper. Submitting DVDs or othermultidimensional material is notencouraged, as it cannot be easily

duplicated.Meet the nomination deadline.Careful planning and preparationwill ensure that your nomination isreceived on time.

You may nominate anentrepreneur by downloading a PDF nomination form from our website www.ey.com/ng/en/ home/EY-Entrepreneur-Of-The-Year or by sending an email to eoywestafrica@ng.ey.com to request a nomination form

The EY Entrepreneur Of The YearTM is more than a celebration of your achievements. Byparticipating in the program, you join an elite alumni and gain access to events and activitiesthroughout your journey. You will join an influential business network where you will makenew contacts and build new relationships.

Join our illustrious EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ alumni

Five pillars support our alumni program:

1. Connections: access to the best business minds in the world

2. Kinship: a community of peers with shared experiences and common entrepreneurial perspectives

3. Knowledge: the most relevant content and information from the finalists, judges and winners and other organizations focused on high-growth, entrepreneurial companies

4. Influence: opportunities to impact high potential, early stage entrepreneurs and tackle complex problems as part of the most prestigious organization of entrepreneurs in the world

5. Recognition: celebrations of past, present and future entrepreneurs and the contributions you make locally, nationally and globally

We believe that maintaining contact with our Entrepreneur Awards alumni is beneficial to all stakeholders.

Celebrating thespecial few

Past winners2011

2011

2014

Aig Aigboje Imoukhuede

Jubril Adewale Tinubu

Dr. Festus Fadeyi

Onajite Okoloko

Prof. Joseph Ezigbo & Mrs. Audrey Joe-Ezigbo

Goodie Ibru Elizabeth Villars Dr. Ayoola Oba Otudeko Sir Samuel E. Jonah Dr. Stella Okoli

Kwabena Adjei Kofi Nsiah-Poku

Aliko Dangote Mitchell Elegbe Austin Avuru Femi AkintundeMaster Category

Master Category

Lifetime Achievement Awardee

Emerging Category

Emerging Category

Lifetime Achievement Awardee Lifetime Achievement Awardee Lifetime Achievement Awardee Lifetime Achievement Awardees

Master Category Emerging Category

Master Category Emerging Category Master Category Emerging Category

2012

2012 2013

2013

2014 2015

2015

Past finalists

Joseph Siaw Agyepong

Tonye Cole Layi Fatona

Aig Aigboje Imoukhuede

Ernest Azudialu

Aliko Dangote

Austin Okere

Austin Avuru

Cosmas Maduka

Jubril Adewale Tinubu

Kwesi Amoafo-Yeboah Gabriel

Ogbechie

Abdulrazaq Isa

Edmund Poku

Kwabena Adjei

Nkechi Obi

Master Category

Onajite Okoloko

Martins Awofisayo

Kenneth Kwamina

Prince Kofi Amoabeng

Femi Akintunde

Thompson Prince

Emmanuel Ajayi

Rockson Kwesi Dogbegah

Otunba Micheal Daramola

Adelaide Ahwireng

Frank Adu

Ibukun Awosika

Mitchell Elegbe

Roland Agambire

Williams Ato Essien

Deji Akinyanju

Fidelis Ayebae

Edward Effah

Kenny Acholonu

Kayode Thomas

Kate Quartey-Papafio

John Momoh

Collins Onuegbu

Prof. Joseph Ezigbo & Mrs.

Audrey Joe-Ezigbo

Rose Ada Okwechime

Daniel McKorley

Felicia Twumasi

Alfred Okoigun

Olubukunola A. George

Chidi Odiase Ajaere

Kofi Nsiah-Poku

Prince Donatus Okonkwo

Emerging Category

EY | Assurance | Tax | Transactions | Advisory

About EYEY is a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services. The insights and quality services we deliver help build trust and confidence in the capital markets and in economies the world over. We develop outstanding leaders who team to deliver on our promises to all of our stakeholders. In so doing, we play a critical role in building a better working world for our people, for our clients and for our communities.

EY refers to the global organization, and may refer to one or more, of the member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young Global Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, does not provide services to clients. For more information about our organization, please visit ey.com.

About EY Entrepreneur Of The YearTM EY Entrepreneur Of The YearTM is the world’s most prestigious business awards program for entrepreneurs. The program makes a difference through the way it encourages entrepreneurial activity among those with potential and recognizes the contribution of people who inspire others with their vision, leadership and achievement. As the first and only truly global awards program of its kind, Entrepreneur Of The Year celebrates those who are building and leading successful, growing and dynamic businesses, recognizing them through regional, national and global awards programs in more than 145 cities in more than 60 countries. ey.com/eoy

For more information about our organisation, please visit www.ey.com© 2018 EYGM Limited. All Rights Reserved.

This publication contains information in summary form and is therefore intended for general guidance only. It is not intended to be a substitute for detailed research or the exercise of professional judgment. Neither EYGM Limited nor any other member of the global EY organisation can accept any responsibility for loss occasioned to any person acting or refraining from action as a result of any material in this publication. On any specific matter, reference should be made to the appropriate advisor.

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Bunmi Akindebunmi.akinde@ng.ey.com+234 802 314 5688

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