The Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Coscharis Group, Dr Cosmas Maduka,
emerged the winner of Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2020
award for the West Africa region, held recently. He however,
officially joined the “EY World Entrepreneur of the Year” Class of
2020 along with 46 other exceptional entrepreneurs from 41 countries
in the world.
The global event was virtually held as a result of travel restrictions
necessitated by the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic across the world.
The virtual ceremony which was originally scheduled to hold as a live
audience participatory event in Carlo, Monaco, was done in partnership
with CNBC.
The EY Leader for West Africa region, Ashish Bakhshi, noted that award
ceremony was also to inspire successful entrepreneurs. “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 can share their incredible
entrepreneurial stories.”
The Luxury Reporter.ng reports that the global award winner was Kiran
Mazumdar-Shaw from India, while Dr Maduka made the top list of the
highest ranked award winners in EY’s People’s Choice with viewers
reaching 1.7m across 124 countries and still growing as at the award
day.
According to Entrepreneurship Leader, Global Growth Markets, at EY,
Stasia Mitchell, “This is the first time we asked the people to vote
on the award winner who most inspired them. The voting was meant to be
a fun and engaging way to get to know the class of 2020 better. It was
no surprise that Dr Maduka and the Coscharis brand stood out so
clearly. This continues to show how inspiring you and your story are
to so many around the world and it says a lot about how valuable your
mission is. I can’t wait to meet you in person.”
Dr Maduka narrates how the process went and how elated he feels. “I
have utmost respect for all the finalists from different countries
because each of us has a unique story to tell that resonates with the
audience. It must have been a very difficult journey for the judges to
arrive at their decision and we have to respect it because they have
their criteria set. At the end of the day, if I had a choice, I would
have given the global award to Mazumdar-Shaw still like the judges
did. It is really not easy to contend among men and she must have
done something much better than the rest of us that stood her out in
the mind of the judges. I therefore congratulate her and all the
finalists this year.”
