The Chief Executive Officer/Founder of Interswitch Limited, Mr Mitchell Elegbe, was on Friday named the overall winner in the Master Entrepreneur Category of the 2023 Ernst &Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in West Africa.

A statement said the Founder/Chief Analyst, Nairametrics Financial Advocate Limited, Ugodre Obi-Chukwu, beat other finalists to clinch the Emerging Category Entrepreneur winner.

In a statement, the organisers of the awards, Ernst and Young, noted that the awards were instituted to recognise and celebrate the achievements of outstanding and amazing entrepreneurs in the West African region.

It said the winners were entrepreneurs who had combined ingenuity, hard work, and perseverance to create and sustain successful growing businesses.

For coming top as the Master Entrepreneur winner, it added, Elegbe would compete with other winners in the same category from 50 other countries for the global title at the EY World Entrepreneur of The Year event in Monte Carlo in Monaco in June this year.

The statement said the EY bestowed the Lifetime Achievement Award to one of Nigeria’s legendary matriarchs and iconic entrepreneur, Dr Rose Okwechime, who is the founder and former Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Abbey Mortgage Bank Plc.

The Regional Managing Partner, EY West Africa, Mr Anthony Oputa, said, “The sheer amount of effort and grit that these extraordinary people, who we call entrepreneurs, put together to create businesses or institutions, not only impact lives but change ties and countries. And that is what we are here to celebrate today.”

The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Otunba Richard Adebayo, commended the six finalists for their outstanding performance in contributing to the growth and development of the country.

Also speaking, the Senior Partner at EY, Ashish Bakhshi said, the Entrepreneur of the Year award was instituted to recognise and celebrate unique men and women.