The Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) has commended Nigerian entrepreneurs for their continuous effort at growing the nation’s economy and creating employment for millions of Nigerians despite the competitive environment they operate.
The President of NACCIMA, Dr. Herbert Ademola Ajayi, gave the commendation in Lagos during a courtesy visit by the Ernst & Young management team led by the Regional Managing Partner (West Africa), Mr. Henry Egbiki, accompanied by Bunmi Akinde, Regional Advisory Leader, West Africa and Mories Atoki, West Africa Coordinator of the ‘Entrepreneur of the Year Award’ to share the progress made on the EOY programme and to enlist the associations’ support.
Ajayi also applauded Ernst & Young for recognizing the achievements of the Nigerian Entrepreneurs and the criteria for the nominations.
He said “this will go a long way in encouraging more and more Nigerians to venture into owning their businesses, regardless of the risk and challenges involved in starting up and owning businesses in Nigeria and across West Africa”.
Earlier in his presentation, the Regional Managing Partner Ernst & Young, West Africa, Henry Egbiki, said that “apart from honouring entrepreneurs, the award was designed to get Nigerian as well as West African entrepreneurs to share their success stories, pitfalls and other challenges that would serve as motivation for others who are considering starting their own businesses”.
Egbiki further said “the programme would also help young Nigerian graduates to realise that it is not until they work for multinationals or other unavailable white collar jobs, before they can become successful in life, but creating something for themselves that others and the country may benefit from.”
The West African Coordinator of the Entrepreneur of the Year Awards, Mories Atoki, also gave an overview of the Entrepreneur Award programme and the roadmap to involve relevant trade associations, Chambers of commerce and government ministries across West Africa.
She further stated that the EOY team had visited the President of the Ghana Chamber of Commerce, Ghana’s Minister for Trade and Commerce and other notable West African leaders.
She explained that the award which was an Ernst & Young’s global initiative aimed at honouring entrepreneurs across West Africa whose ingenuity, hard work and perseverance have created and sustained growing businesses”.
Mories also remarked that the grand finale of the EOY 2011 award would be held in Monte Carlo in 2012 where the winner of the master category awards would compete with other winners from around the world.
According to Mories, “The 25 years old award is an annual programme, founded in a small mid-western city in the United State of America in 1986, now grown to become the only world-wide business award event of its kind, as it held in over 50 countries and 140 cities around the world”.
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