Youth and enterprise lead the nominations for the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2019 Malaysia Awards

Philip Rao, advisory partner at Ernst & Young Advisory Services Sdn Bhd (EY) and the EOY programme director, said nominations for the Emerging Entrepreneur category topped those received for the four categories of the awards this year. The other categories are Technology Entrepreneur, Woman Entrepreneur and Master Entrepreneur.

EY announced the 17 top nominees for EOY 2019 Malaysia last Thursday at a cocktail ceremony co-hosted with financial services provider Credit Suisse AG at Hilton Kuala Lumpur.

Rao lauded nominees for their leadership, which empowers them to break away from the pack and inspire purpose, innovation and excellence. Ingenuity and the desire to improve the way enterprises operate anchor their respective stories, and EY is proud to provide a platform for them to share how they built their business, and the impact of their ideas on the community, country and the world, he said.

“We have run the EOY programme for 18 years and we want to promote entrepreneurship in Malaysia, so the Emerging Entrepreneur category is one we hold very dearly to. That’s a way to show young entrepreneurs that there is an avenue for them to be recognised, and they can be like mentors or a beacon of hope for younger people in the Malaysian economy.” 

The Woman Entrepreneur category also saw a significant increase in the number of nominations this year, said Rao. While some might argue that nominees should compete on the same level regardless of gender, having such a category compels people to recognise women, he explained. “The reaction to that is we had the largest number of nominees for this category [to date]. We want to continue to recognise women.”

The EY brand is very strong and the awards programme has become very popular, he said. “We hold close to our judging standards and the independence of the panel. We hold close to the judging criteria, which is applied globally.

“Our judges really do a good job — they decide and we help to moderate the awards. For us, it is not just about announcing the winners. It is about the process and top nominees. The stories behind them are as valuable as the trophies,” Rao said.

The winners for each category as well as the EOY 2019 Malaysia will be announced at a gala event in November. The Malaysian EOY will join country award recipients from around the world in Monte Carlo next June to compete for the EY World Entrepreneur of the Year 2020 award.

Here are the 17 nominees across all four categories for EOY 2019 Malaysia:

EMERGING ENTREPRENEUR

1. Jeiganthan Ramanathan & Logeswary Kavita (Crescograph Solution Sdn Bhd)

2. Christopher Liang (Googolplex Holdings Bhd)

3. Liew Ooi Hann (Jirnexu Sdn Bhd)

4. Daphne Teh (MuzArt International Sdn Bhd)

5. Ko Chuan Zhen, Poh Tyng Huei & Ryan Oh (Plus Solar Systems Sdn Bhd)

TECHNOLOGY ENTREPRENEUR

1. Choo Yan Tiee (Auto Count Sdn Bhd)

2. Clarence Leong (EasyParcel Sdn Bhd)

3. Azhar Zainal Abidin (ProEight Sdn Bhd)

4. Mark Leow (Verity Intelligence Sdn Bhd)

WOMAN ENTREPRENEUR

1. See Wai Hun (Juris Technologies Sdn Bhd)

2. Datin Cindy Choh (Proguard Technologies Sdn Bhd)

3. Chow Pui Hee (SamAiden Sdn Bhd)

4. Jenny Chuang (Sydney Cake House Sdn Bhd)

MASTER NTREPRENEUR

1. Datuk Dr Omar Abd Hamid (Avisena Holdings Sdn Bhd)

2. Ben Eng Kok Chuang (Fusipim Sdn Bhd)

3. Datuk Seri Kenneth H’ng (GUH Holdings Bhd)

4. Dang Tai Luk (Mynews Holdings Bhd)

This article first appeared on Sept 30, 2019 in Financial Daily, The Edge. Pick up a copy for the full story.